Alford was a 2x Big Ten player of the year and led his team to a national title. He was an Olympic Gold Medalist while in college (granted he may not have been on the team if not for his coach). He was an incredible collegiate athlete. I think he definitely deserves to be rated as high as he is as an "Icon."
Also, I have to compare him to players from outside the Big Ten for the sake of an All-Time team argument. If I were comparing him to someone from the conference, I would put that player (or in this case, shooting ace) ahead of Alford. There isn't anyone, so I had to look outside the conference for examples.