8/19/2004

PRESEASON INSIGNIFICA

If you’re one of the 27 people who get the NFL Network (thankfully, I am) you might occasionally catch the “NFL Matchup” ripoff Playbook. The host of that show is a fine sportscaster by the name of Paul Burmeister, who has an intersting episode in his background. In the late 1980s, Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Hayden Fry was getting pressure from boosters to play more Iowa kids at skill positions . . . seems he hadn’t started an Iowa native at QB since the 1980 Rose Bowl season, and Lon Olejniczak only got the starts because Pete Gales and Gordy Bohannon were injured. So Hayden set aside a scholarship for an Iowa-born QB and set out to find the best candidate. It came down to Burmeister (a home-grown Iowa City kid) and another candidate; Burmeister wound up getting the nod. He started one season (1994) for the Hawkeyes and also started in the very first Alamo Bowl. And the other quarterback, the one Hayden passed on?

That was Kurt Warner.

Posted by Mark @ 4:53 pm | | Permalink
This post is filed under: Sports

2 Comments

  1. See here at Wisconsin we *know* we have to import our skill position players…like quarterbacks from North Dakota.

    Comment by Jon Enslin — 8/20/2004 @ 8:35 am

  2. To be fair, noted football GEENYUS Terry Allen let Warner sit on the bench for three seasons. In I-AA.

    Comment by Jim — 8/20/2004 @ 9:42 pm

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