Iowa Great Randy Duncan Passes Away at 79





Watched RD play when I was 8 years old...my first time in Kinnick (which was not Kinnick). He was one fine QB and apparently, an even better man. He will be missed.
 






Was fortunate in having the pleasure to interview Randy for a few stories through the years. Very kind, well centered man. He'll be greatly missed and was of the all-time Hawkeye greats. RIP.
 




Wow.
Only met him once.

My 90 yr old Aunt has a Randy Duncan story she tells at every tailgate:
She was a nurse working overnight at UIHC very early on Sunday morning (she eventually retired as Head Nurse) when a young man came in complaining about his back and that he couldn't hardly move>
When asked what may have caused it he said he was hit a few times in the game the day before.....
My Aunt froze and asked him his name again and he told her.
She says that when she left the exam room there were coaches and reporters in the ER so some other staff must have recognized him and sent an alert.
 




RobHowe said:
Was fortunate in having the pleasure to interview Randy for a few stories through the years. Very kind, well centered man. He'll be greatly missed and was of the all-time Hawkeye greats. RIP.
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His son (Matt, as I knew him - he had multiple siblings) and I went to school together. We were born on the same day in the same hospital. We were both in the Phi Delta Theta fraternity together. Matt went to Iowa on a football scholarship. He was a good man. Tragically took his own life in 2009 IIRC. By coincidence I was listening to B. Joel's "Only the good die young" the day he departed.

Randy - his wife - his kids - all good people. You used to find people like them all over the place, all the time when I was younger. Now they are getting harder and harder to find. Sadness today.
 


Hawk90 said:
Rob, any chance you could repost your interview with him?
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The stories I did were for the old Hawkeye Nation magazine. I'll see if I can dig those up out of the storage room but not making any promises. It's a mess down there. :)
 


Will there be a tribute to him this Saturday/for the rest of the year? There should be something done. One of the all-time great Hawkeyes. Second place in the Heisman trophy balloting. On the Hawkeyes Honor Roll.
 


homes said:
Will there be a tribute to him this Saturday/for the rest of the year? There should be something done. One of the all-time great Hawkeyes. Second place in the Heisman trophy balloting. On the Hawkeyes Honor Roll.
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I'd be pretty surprised of they didn't honor him at Saturday's game.
 




Randy Duncan was perhaps the best quarterback in Hawkeye History. Under Randy's leadership Iowa won two Rose Bowls convincingly. Watched both games and was delighted. Randy was a consensus first team All American and the Hawks were ranked number one in the final Coaches Poll for the only time in Hawkeye Football History. Randy was also the first pick of the first round of the 1959 NFL Draft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Iowa_Hawkeyes_football_team

Forest Evashevski had gathered an outstanding team on offense and defense. The most exciting years I have personally witnessed over many years of watching, and listening to the Hawks on WHO radio. Even listened to every game while working in Philadelphia after high school. Randy Duncan, Bob Jeter, Willie Fleming, Alex Karras, Curt Merz, John Nocera and many others carved a huge notch in Hawkeye Legend.

A Hawkeye Great has moved on.
 


thedukeofearl said:
Randy Duncan was perhaps the best quarterback in
A Hawkeye Great has moved on.
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A very good recap but Kenny Ploen quarterbacked the first hawks to a Rose Bowl win. But you are right Duncan was great based on his win lost record, his stats, his awards , etc.
 


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