53 Facts About Hayden Fry

John Hayden Fry was an American college football player and coach.

Hayden Fry was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2003.

At age 14, Hayden Fry lost his father to a heart attack, and family friends observed that Hayden Fry transformed from a shy child to the head of his household.

Hayden Fry's mother worked at a movie theater, while Fry worked at oil fields during summers.

At Odessa High School, Hayden Fry earned all-state honors as quarterback and led the team to the Texas state high school championship in 1946.

Hayden Fry then played at Baylor University from 1947 to 1950.

Hayden Fry started a few games as an upperclassman at Baylor, but he could never win the full-time starting quarterback job.

Hayden Fry graduated from Baylor with a degree in psychology in 1951.

Hayden Fry was an American history teacher and assistant football coach at Odessa High School for a year in 1951 before joining the US Marine Corps in 1952.

Hayden Fry served in the US Marine Corps from 1952 to 1955.

Hayden Fry played with the Quantico Marines football team in 1953, winning the Marine Corps championship and playing in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Hayden Fry coached a six-man football team while in the Marines, and the unique style of play allowed Hayden Fry to innovate and invent new creative schemes.

Hayden Fry became friends with Al Davis, who was coaching a rival military team; Davis would later become famous as the owner of the Oakland Raiders.

Hayden Fry's time coaching and serving in the Marines were an asset as he began his coaching career.

Hayden Fry was discharged from the Marines in February 1955 with the rank of captain.

In 1955, Hayden Fry returned to Odessa as a teacher and assistant football coach.

Hayden Fry served as Odessa's head football coach for three years.

Hayden Fry spent two years at Baylor coaching the defensive backs.

Hayden Fry left Baylor to become an assistant coach at Arkansas under Frank Broyles.

Hayden Fry was the offensive backfield coach at Arkansas in 1961.

Hayden Fry won the conference coach of the year award in his first season.

When Hayden Fry took the job at SMU, he was promised that he would be allowed to recruit black athletes.

Hayden Fry had never had discipline problems and was deeply religious.

When he refused to go along with the plan, Hayden Fry said, the boosters pressured the school's new president to fire him.

Hayden Fry was hired as the coach and athletic director at North Texas State University before the 1973 season.

Hayden Fry coached three of his sons while at North Texas.

Hayden Fry wanted to go to a school where he would be assured of a bowl game with a solid record and where he did not need to serve as athletic director.

Hayden Fry was hired as Iowa's 25th head football coach, and fourth in eight seasons, after the 1978 season.

Hayden Fry had never been to Iowa, but he knew and liked Bump Elliott, by this time the university's athletic director.

Iowa had had 17 straight non-winning seasons, but Hayden Fry was impressed at the fan support for a program that had struggled for so long.

Hayden Fry turned his attention to changing a losing attitude and starting new traditions at Iowa.

Hayden Fry hired a marketing group to create the Tigerhawk, a logo to represent the University of Iowa's athletic programs.

Since both shared the colors of black and gold, Hayden Fry gained permission from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the dominant NFL program of the time, to overhaul Iowa's uniforms in the Steelers' image.

Hayden Fry had the team "swarm" onto the field together as they left the locker room, holding hands in a show of solidarity.

Principally, though, Hayden Fry hoped that the unusual color would distract and fluster the opposing players and coaches.

Hayden Fry retained some of the Iowa coaches from the previous staff, including Dan McCarney and Bernie Wyatt.

Finally, Hayden Fry hired the head coach at Mason City High School, Barry Alvarez.

Hayden Fry gave future South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt one of his first breaks in college football, making him a graduate assistant coach at Iowa in 1989.

Hayden Fry brought a wide-open passing game to the Big Ten for the first time.

Hayden Fry had his tight ends stand at the line of scrimmage at the snap, creating a unique looking offensive formation.

Hayden Fry tried a number of trick plays, or "exotics", to keep the opposition on its toes.

Hayden Fry had vowed to resign if he didn't take Iowa to a bowl game in four years; he had done so in three.

Still, Iowa would win its first outright Big Ten title in 27 years and secure Hayden Fry's second Rose Bowl berth and a top ten final ranking.

Hayden Fry had taken a team with 19 consecutive non-winning seasons and turned them into one of the best teams in the Big Ten conference.

Hayden Fry, who was secretly undergoing radiation treatments for prostate cancer all year, announced his retirement on November 22,1998.

In 2002, Hayden Fry reportedly expressed an interest in the open head coaching position at his alma mater, Baylor University, that ultimately went to Guy Morriss.

Hayden Fry coached two decades at Iowa, more than twice as long as any coach before him.

Hayden Fry led the Hawkeyes to 14 bowl games; before his arrival they had been to two bowl games in 90 years.

Hayden Fry led the Hawkeyes to three Big Ten titles and three Rose Bowl appearances.

Hayden Fry was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003, alongside former SMU star Jerry LeVias.

Hayden Fry received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, presented by the American Football Coaches Association, in 2005.

On December 30,2010, Hayden Fry was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Pasadena Convention Center.

On December 17,2019, Hayden Fry died of cancer at age 90.