The day Chris Street Died

HawkGold said:
The thing I remember was Andy Kaufman and the (shot) to give the Hawks there first loss afterwards and Illini fans taunting the Hawk players. It was an unbelievable game and to end that way.....
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Kaufman for the push-off...

I actually remember watching the first game back against MSU with my brother (also a Hawkeye) at a pool hall in Palm Bay, Florida with one of my brother's high school classmates visiting from Chicago.

We kept saying, "This sucks, they still aren't ready to come back to play." Somehow, when the Hawks were down 18, then cut it to 14, my brother said, "I bet we make a run. MSU has foul trouble and they can't use those guys to handle the press". True enough, we fouled Peplowski out (he was a monster inside), then Val Barnes got hot. Then MSU got mega-flustered and looked like a junior-high team against the press. The big shocker, though, was how we completely dominated OT. Usually, when you fight back from that far down, the tank gets empty, and being at MSU, you had to figure their fans would be a huge difference. Not so that night. And I will never forget Acie Earl pointing to the "CMS40" shaved into the back of his head.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
Kaufman for the push-off...

I actually remember watching the first game back against MSU with my brother (also a Hawkeye) at a pool hall in Palm Bay, Florida with one of my brother's high school classmates visiting from Chicago.

We kept saying, "This sucks, they still aren't ready to come back to play." Somehow, when the Hawks were down 18, then cut it to 14, my brother said, "I bet we make a run. MSU has foul trouble and they can't use those guys to handle the press". True enough, we fouled Peplowski out (he was a monster inside), then Val Barnes got hot. Then MSU got mega-flustered and looked like a junior-high team against the press. The big shocker, though, was how we completely dominated OT. Usually, when you fight back from that far down, the tank gets empty, and being at MSU, you had to figure their fans would be a huge difference. Not so that night. And I will never forget Acie Earl pointing to the "CMS40" shaved into the back of his head.
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This had to be one of the more empty feelings I've ever had with something not directly impacting me. That Iowa had taken the lead and 1.5 seconds left.
 
Some buddies and I were drinking downtown. Stopped into the Holiday Inn on the ped mall to hit the cash machine. I guy I knew walked by and told me that Chris had been killed. Went into the lobby to watch the news coverage. Some Northwestern players and coach Bill Foster were watching. Spoke for quite a while with coach Foster, who had coached Chris the previous summer on a B1G trip to Europe. He was really broken up.
Didn’t know Chris well but I had spoken with him a few times and had mutual friends. Great guy by all accounts.
 
I was living in Milwaukee and I was at work at my first job out of college, when one of my coworkers said to me he heard that somebody on the Iowa Football team had been killed. Back then news was far from instant and even farther from accurate when it was just breaking.
I didn't find out it was Chris Street until several hours later that night when I got home and turned on ESPN. Because I was just a few years older than him it was very difficult for me to try to understand death at such a young age, with his whole life ahead of him, cut short... so I called my Dad and we talked about it.
 
There's a story that Val Barnes was looking for a ride back to his apartment and nearly got into Street's vehicle but at the last minute ended up hitching a ride from James Winters instead. Val and Chris, I believe, lived in the same apartment complex and Val suspected trouble the minute he got home and didn't see the Street vehicle in the parking lot.

I was in bed early that night because I was coming down with something and didn't know until I saw the paper the next morning. I had ample opportunity to get up to speed. I worked as as a video producer for TCI cable in 1993 and had ESPN on all morning in the post production suite.
 
Northside Hawk said:
There's a story that Val Barnes was looking for a ride back to his apartment and nearly got into Street's vehicle but at the last minute ended up hitching a ride from James Winters instead. Val and Chris, I believe, lived in the same apartment complex and Val suspected trouble the minute he got home and didn't see the Street vehicle in the parking lot.

I was in bed early that night because I was coming down with something and didn't know until I saw the paper the next morning. I had ample opportunity to get up to speed. I worked as as a video producer for TCI cable in 1993 and had ESPN on all morning in the post production suite.
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Crazy to think if Barnes rode with Chris, maybe they leave a few seconds later and avoid the crash.
 
BILLYBOBSTEXAS said:
Vanilla Gorilla, What a player! He is what is missing from this years team.
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actually Al Lorenzen was the vanilla gorilla. Was in DM after a convention sitting in a hotel lounge with friends. We saw it come across the tv and looked on in disbelief with a very sick feeling in the stomach. Can still see it and vividly remember it. One of those moments frozen in time.
 
Looks like we came to play. Good hustle on defense. Wieskamp looking like the best defender on the team again.
 
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