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The state of Iowa is called the Hawkeye State for a reason, with many of its best college athletes attending the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
In all, 15 colleges in Iowa have NCAA-sponsored athletic programs. Four are Division I - Drake, Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa. Upper Iowa is Division II, and 10 schools compete in Division III.
The Hawkeyes have won 26 national championships at the team level, with 24 coming in wrestling. The Hawkeyes also won men's gymnastics and field hockey titles. Iowa State has 13 national championships in wrestling, men's cross country and men's gymnastics. Northern Iowa also won a national title in wrestling in 1949, and Drake won three national championships in men's cross country in the 1940s.
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Who are the 10 greatest college athletes to play in the state? It wasn't easy to narrow the list, but here is USA Today Sports came up with:
10 greatest college athletes from Iowa
Cael Sanderson, Iowa State
Cael Sanders was the first NCAA Division I wrestler to record a perfect (159-0) record in his career. A Heber City, Utah native, he was a four-time NCAA champion and three-time winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy — given to the most outstanding college wrestler of the year. Sanders was the Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year and received an ESPY as Best Male College Athlete in 2002. He won a gold medal at the Athens Olympics in 2000. After coaching at Iowa State for three seasons, Sanders moved onto Penn State where he has led the Nittany Lions to 13 national championships.
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Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Caitlin Clark is a two-time National Player of the Year who led Iowa to the NCAA championship in basketball in two consecutive seasons. A native of Des Moines, Clark first committed to Notre Dame before switching to Iowa. She averaged 28.4 points and 8.2 assists starting all 139 games of her career for the Hawkeyes from 2020-24. Clark holds the NCAA record for points career with 3,951. She broke both the women’s and men’s Division I records, previously held by Pete Maravich. The Associated Press picked Clark as one of the greatest players in women's college basketball history in 2025.
Dan Gable, Iowa State
Dan Gable was a two-time NCAA national champion, three-time all-American and three-time Big Eight champion. A native of Waterloo, his NCAA record for consecutive pins (25) still holds. From 1967 to 1970, he compiled a 117-1 record. Gable's only loss came in the NCAA championship match his senior season to Washington's Larry Owings. Gable went on to win a gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. He coached wrestling at Iowa from 1976 to 1997, leading the Hawkeyes to 15 national championships.
Nile Kinnick, Iowa
Nile Kinnick won Big Ten MVP, the Walter Camp and Maxwell awards and the Heisman Trophy in 1939. A native of Adel, Iowa, he accounted for 107 of the team's 130 points and played 402 out of 420 possible minutes his senior season. Kinnick, who played halfback on the Hawkeyes' "Ironmen" team, was nicknamed “The Cornbelt Comet” because of his shifty running style. He finished his college career with 1,674 yards rushing, 18 interceptions and an average of 39.9 yards per punt. During World War II, his fighter plane crashed into the sea, and Kinnick was killed in action. The Iowa football stadium is named in his honor.
Chuck Long, Iowa
Chuck Long played quarterback for the Hawkeyes from 1981-84 and was a three-time first-team All-Big Ten pick. A native of Wheaton, Illinois, he finished 35–13–1 as a starter and ended his career with 10,461 passing yards and 74 touchdowns on 782 completions. Long won Big Ten Player of the Year and the Maxwell and Davey O'Brien Awards his senior season. He finished at runner-up to Bo Jackson for the Heisman Trophy in the closest vote in the award's history. Long was drafted by the Detroit Lions and played six seasons in the NFL.
PROGRAM RANKINGS: Top 25 | Big Ten | SEC | ACC | Big 12
Luka Garza, Iowa
A 6-foot-11 center, Luka Garza won the Big Ten and Naismith Player of the Year awards in 2021. A Washington, D.C., native, he started 118 of 127 games in his career with Hawkeyes from 2017-21. Garza was a two-time first-team Big Ten conference and All-America pick. He finished his career at Iowa as the all-time leading scorer with 2,306 points and second-leading rebounder with 931.
Lorri Bauman, Drake
Bauman grew up in Des Moines, where Drake is located, and became a four-year starter for their women's basketball team from 1980-84. She averaged 25.8 points and 8.7 rebounds a game and was the first woman in NCAA Division I history to record 3,000 points (3,115) and 1,000 rebounds (1,050). She finished her career as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history and is now seventh on the list. Bauman still holds the record for most points scored in an NCAA Tournament game with 50 against Maryland on March 31, 1982.
Troy Davis, Iowa State
Troy Davis, who played running back for Iowa State from 1994-96, is the first player in NCAA Division I history to rush for 2,000-plus yards in two seasons. He was a two-time consensus first-team All-American and two-time Heisman Trophy finalist. Davis led the nation in rushing his sophomore (2,010 yards) and junior (2,185) seasons. A Miami native, he holds every Cyclone rushing record, including yards in a game, single season and career, rushing touchdowns and total offense. He also has the sixth-highest single-game rushing performance in FBS history, with 378 yards against Missouri in 1996.
Tim Dwight, Iowa
A two-sport athlete for Iowa, Tim Dwight played wide receiver and kick returner on the football team and ran sprints for the track team. A native of Iowa City, he was an eight-time letterwinner for the Hawkeyes. Dwight was two-time first-team All-American in football and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy race in 1997. He also ran track and was a four-time Big Ten Conference champion, in the 100 meters (1999), 4x100 relay (1998, 1999) and 4x400 relay (1999). Dwight returned to Iowa after his rookie season with the Atlanta Falcons for his final collegiate track season and earned All-America honors.
Joey Woody, Northern Iowa
Joey Woody was a four-time All-American track star at Northern Iowa, placing at the national meet three times in the 400-meter hurdles and once in the 800 meters. The Iowa City native won the 1997 NCAA title in the 400-meter hurdles, his specialty. Woody's personal best in the event was 47.97 seconds. He was a member of the USA’s world-record setting 4x800 meter relay team in 2002 and placed second in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2003 World Championships.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA250: 10 greatest college athletes from Iowa
