Dallas Clark & Greg Lempke

Maybe by my 5th year, I can start on special teams

CyHawk week just feels a little different this year. Sure, it's always a special time for bets around the office and trash talk on social media, but the Cyclones and Hawkeyes both enter the game ranked in the top 15 in this week’s AP Poll and ESPN College Gameday is coming to town for the second time in three years. The Moonlight Graham Show would certainly not miss the opportunity to celebrate Iowa’s second national showcase sporting event in the last two months. As Iowa prepares for America to turn her eyes back to the heartland on Saturday morning, we welcome in two of the greatest athletes to ever come out of the Livermore-Twin River Valley-Bode portion of Humboldt county. Greg Lempke and Dallas Clark have been connected almost as long as Dallas has been alive, but the Cyclone and Hawkeye farm-boys-at-heart share many Moonlight characteristics as well.

Greg Lempke was a two-sport athlete at ISU playing baseball and football for the Cyclones. Lempke was a backup quarterback for the Cyclones in the Earl Bruce era of the late 1970s and early 80s. In his time in Cardinal and Gold, the Cyclones won 4 out of 5 games between 1978-1982. Lempke’s Cyclones never lost to Iowa. Really though, Lempke was known more as a baseball player for Iowa State - playing with Moonlighters Dave and Dan Flattery.

Well it was tough because he was wearing the wrong colors

Dallas Clark was just a one-sport athlete who went from Humboldt County to Iowa City. Clark was a standout athlete at Twin River Valley, Bode but wasn’t highly recruited. He wanted to follow in his older brother’s footprints and play college football, but he had to convince a DI team to take a chance on him. Iowa offered him a grey-shirt opportunity after high school and Clark spent two years near the bottom of the depth chart as a linebacker. It took Coach Ferentz about half of a year to convince Clark to move to TE and the rest is history. Clark went on to play 11 years in the NFL, spending most of his career with Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. Clark won Super Bowl XLI with the Colts and finished his NFL career as a two-time all-pro. Clark has become one of the faces on the University of Iowa’s Mount Rushmore as Tight End University. Clark has over 500 receptions, 5,600 yards, and 53 touchdowns. 

But Dallas Clark shares something with Lempke besides farming and their hometown, Clark never beat the Cyclones as a Hawkeye. The Cyclones won each CyHawk game from 1999-2002. While the Iowa Hawkeyes lead the all-time series 45-22, the series has been full of streaks. The Hawkeyes have won the last 5 CyHawk games but with the Cyclones being a top ten team, now more than ever, anything can happen in a rivalry game.

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