One of the fun things about starting SGI is getting to meet up with football guys and talk football.
Last night at the Upper Iowa Peacocks game at Drake, I had the chance to catch up with Mick Mulherin from the 1990 Linn-Mar Lions State Championship team and talk football. He and his wife Katie’s son plays linebacker for the Peacocks, so it was fun to go to their tailgate before we covered the game. P.S. Thanks to Jason Thompson and the Peacock crew for the great set-up and hospitality.
Mick was a two-way player (RB and Safety) and first team all-state on back-to-back championship teams in 1989 and 1990. He went on to play Safety for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Hayden Fry days until graduating in 1995.
Those Linn Mar teams were some of the most stacked Iowa High School teams over the past 35 years in Iowa history. They had 10 first team all staters – Ryan Driscoll (Iowa Hawkeye QB), Jason Maloy (Star fullback on those early 90’s Air Force Falcon teams that ran the wishbone down people’s throats), Jeff Watts (IA Heavyweight wrestling champ who played for Morningside), Sean Rice (TE who played Basketball at UNI), Marc Lillibridge (Iowa State and NFL) Tony Young, Matt Kosman, Tony Rowe, Jon Teborg, and more.
The Lions were Top 25 Nationally in USA Today and had some serious hype in those days.
Their long highlight 1990 video on You Tube is above for your viewing pleasure. It’s worth the watch (at least the intro) as it starts with a narration of African scenes with Elephants talking about Lions ruling the plain…..No kidding, it’s an Iowa High School football hype video that starts in Africa. If they had Toto singing Africa as the backing soundtrack, it would be perfect. For 1990, the effort to put together video like this took some work. The Lions had a hype squad to match their team achievements for sure.
We had a chance to talk the Upper Iowa Peacocks outlook (last night was not the start they wanted) and how that program has climbed steadily. FYI. Being there live and covering the game at the field level, we think the Peacocks will be fine and challenge for their conference title. They were playing up at the FCS level, and on the road and Drake is good.
Mick talks Linn-Mar and Iowa Hawkeye Football and his son Michael Inside Linebacker on the Upper Iowa Peacocks
I took the opportunity to talk with Mick about who on the East side of the state in 5A he thinks will be strong team and he shared his thoughts on Cedar Rapids Prairie who are led by Kyle Knock CR Kennedy star and tight end for Iowa State in the Dan McCarney days.
Mick gave a well-deserved shout-out to Kyle’s dad Don Knock who is helping at Prairie as an assistant. Don is a Hall of Fame Iowa High School coach who also coached at Iowa State for Dan McCarney, so the Prairie Hawks obviously have some top-notch high school coaches.
It was fun to catch up with Mick and crew before the game. Drake had a good crowd for Coach Woodley’s debut, and the Peacock fans traveled well and showed up. It was perfect Iowa night and both teams have great uniforms and lids (I love those Upper Iowa baby blue lids with Peacock script on one side and the player’s number on the other).
It was fun to catch up with Mick who also is one of those rare Iowa High School athletes (he jumped 7-0 in the high jump in high school) that come around every so often and talk Linn-Mar, Kennedy, Prairie and Eastern Iowa Football.
As we were wrapping up, I asked Mick one last question about 1990 and why we finished 2nd in the Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year voting.
Some guy from Ames High School won the award that year. He also won the player of the year in Basketball. I love how former Iowa Hawkeye athletes just politely avoid ever mentioning the Cyclones and their existence even when talking about Fred Hoiberg. P.S. Mick does have a Tiger Hawk tattoo and is a proud Fry Guy.
As we cover the games live this year, we hope to be able to share some more interviews with former Iowa High School and College Players.
In a closing note to the Iowa High School Athletic Association as I was researching this story and looking at the Football Hall of Fame | IHSAA list of 219 players, how can you not have a single Linn-Mar High School player in the Hall of Fame – You have at least 3-4 players (including Mick) from just the 89-90 teams to choose from? I hope someone will fix that soon.
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