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Phil Haddy – University of Iowa, Sports Information Director (retired)

CSC Hall of Fame Class of 2023

by Steve Roe – University of Iowa // CSC 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award and 2022 CSC Hall of Fame recipient

Phil Haddy has lived the good life … a Hawkeye life.
 
Haddy attended 23 Iowa bowl games. He worked 38 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships and witnessed 23 NCAA wrestling national titles prior to his retirement as Iowa’s Sports Information Director in 2012. He joined the Iowa SID staff in 1971 after earning his second degree from Iowa.
 
In recognition of his 41-year career in communications in collegiate athletics, Haddy will be one of six members inducted into the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Hall of Fame at CSC’s annual convention June 12 at the Marriott World Center in Orlando.
 
 
“There are so many people for me to give thanks for this tremendous honor,” said Haddy. “But I would be remiss if I didn’t say thank you to my former bosses, athletic directors Bump Elliott, Bob Bowlsby and Gary Barta. And certainly, fellow Iowa SID’s George Wine and Steve Roe. All these people allowed me to spend my entire carer working with the greatest group of professionals imaginable. Thanks to all of you for this great acknowledgement of my 40+ years at the University of Iowa.”
 
Haddy wasn’t quite so sure he had made the correct career choice when he made his first football road trip with the Hawkeyes on Sept. 18, 1971, to Corvallis, Oregon, for a game against Oregon State.
 
After the game, Haddy was responsible for standing outside the locker room until the team was ready for the media to enter. While waiting, there was a man trying to get in the locker room to supposedly see his “brother,” Dave Harris — Iowa’s running back at the time.
 
“I knew he wasn’t Dave Harris’ brother because Dave was an African American, and this guy was Caucasian,” said Haddy. “I thought I had gotten rid of him. I turned around to talk to the Iowa media, and we were chuckling about it.
 
“I turned my head away, and this guy takes his fist, winds up and cold cocks me right in the face. After losing the game, it became one of the only laughing points of the trip. There were a lot of memorable moments on trips over the years, but nothing quite like that first one.”
 
One of Haddy’s most memorable moments in his Hawkeye career came during the 1981 season when Iowa beat Michigan State to earn a berth into the Rose Bowl. Entering the game, Iowa was expected to go to the Liberty Bowl, but after Ohio State beat Michigan, the cards fell into place for a trip to Pasadena.
 
“About a quarter and a half into that game, we realized things were materializing in the Ohio State-Michigan game,” said Haddy. “So, if we beat Michigan State, we go to the Rose Bowl.
 
“With a couple of minutes left in the game and Iowa holding a big lead, UI President James Freedman got on the roof of the old Iowa press box and was throwing roses to the crowd, while the band was playing an impromptu version of “California Here We Come”.
 
“It was a moment when people were cheering, but crying at the same time, because this was Iowa, and we were doing something we weren’t supposed to do. Something no one gave us any chance to do.”
 
Looking back, Haddy couldn’t see himself working anywhere other than the University of Iowa. He and his wife, Elaine, between them, worked at the University of Iowa for 86 years.
 
“You don’t work somewhere 41 years and not like it,” noted Haddy. “It was always special working at Iowa, and I never had a desire to leave. Part of the reason was the people.”
 
Haddy was mentored by CoSIDA/CSC Hall of Famer George Wine from 1971-93. He was named the third SID in school history in 1993 by former director of athletics Bump Elliott. He worked with two football coaches — Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz — from 1979 until his retirement in 2012, something that is rare in college football.
 
“I worked with some absolutely wonderful coaches, athletes and presidents,” said Haddy, who received the 2001 Elmer “Scoop” Hudgens Lifetime SID Award from the All-America Football Foundation. “I have a special fondness for ‘my president’ and that would be Sandy Boyd. Bump Elliott was ‘my AD’, and Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz are the greatest football coaches any SID could ever work for. The same goes for working with Dan Gable (Iowa wrestling), Tom Davis (Iowa men’s basketball) and Duane Banks (Iowa baseball).
 
“That’s why I always say how lucky can one SID be, working with a group like that? I’ve got to be without question one of the luckiest sports communicators ever — three Rose Bowls, two Orange Bowls, a men’s Final Four, 23 NCAA wrestling titles, and I was the voice of Iowa wrestling for more than 40 years.”
 
Haddy is the fourth Hall of Fame member out of the University of Iowa, joining Eric Wilson (1969), George Wine (1985) and Steve Roe (2022).