The Highlander Restaurant was overflowing with 500 Hawkeyes on Saturday night as the Golden Harvest Banquet marked the end of the I Club Tour for 2002. Some of the hardware stayed in Iowa City as local businessman, Ted Pacha, won the Hawk of the Year Award. Pacha, a member of the National I Club Board, has been a tireless worker for the Hawkeyes.
However, the Polk County I Club was the big winner of the evening as they were honored as the I Club of the Year and also won the golf tournament in the afternoon. Polk County I Club President, Joe Chmelka, accepted the award to the delight of several tables of his fellow I Club members making the trek from Des Moines.
Bob Bowlsby addressed the crowd and expressed his appreciation for all the support shown by Iowa fans. The monetary contributions made by I Club members are especially need in light of the fact that Iowa is the smallest state school in the Big Ten.
Bruce Nelson represented the football team in addition to the Iowa Foundation, where he is interning this summer.
Head Football Coach Kirk Ferentz was the main speaker. He noted that Iowa must improve in three areas:
1.Special teams
2.Winning on the road
3.Winning close games
The Alamo Bowl win was especially important for the program as it accomplished two of the aforementioned goals. Since the game was against a Texas team in Texas, it certainly would qualify as a good road win. In addition, no one would argue that the game was not close.
HTO.com will have pictures of the event on the site later in the week.