The Hawkeye Wave: The Story Behind Iowa Football’s Most Meaningful Tradition
At the end of the first quarter of every Iowa football home game, nearly 70,000 people inside Kinnick Stadium turn away from the field.
Fans, players, coaches and members of the visiting team face the nearby UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital and wave to the pediatric patients and families watching from the windows.
The children wave back.
Known as the Hawkeye Wave, the moment has become one of the most recognizable traditions in college football. It lasts only a few minutes, but for families spending their Saturday inside the hospital, it can provide a welcome connection to the excitement happening across the street.
How did the Hawkeye Wave begin?
UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital opened its new 14-story building in early 2017. Its upper floors offered patients and families a direct view into Kinnick Stadium.
As Iowa’s first home football game approached, Hawkeye fans began sharing ideas about acknowledging the children watching from the hospital.
Krista Young proposed on Facebook that fans turn and wave to the children. Hawkeye fan Levi Thompson shared a similar suggestion on an Iowa football message board. The ideas gained attention online and eventually reached university officials.
On September 2, 2017, during Iowa’s season opener against Wyoming, the crowd turned toward the hospital at the end of the first quarter and waved.
A new Iowa tradition had begun.
The Kid Captain chooses the music
The Wave continued at every Iowa home football game and quickly gained national attention.
For its first five seasons, “Wave on Wave” by Pat Green generally played over the stadium speakers. That changed in 2022 when Iowa Athletics began asking each home game’s Kid Captain to help select the song played during the Wave.
The Kid Captain program began in 2009 and recognizes current and former UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital patients. Each captain is honored by the hospital and the Iowa football program, and the child’s story is shared with Hawkeye fans.
Letting the Kid Captain choose the music gives each Wave a slightly different personality and keeps the moment focused on the children it was created to honor.
More than an Iowa football tradition
The Hawkeye Wave has nothing to do with the score on the field.
For a few minutes, the rivalry and competition take a back seat. Everyone inside Kinnick Stadium faces the same direction and sends a simple message to the children and families across the street: We see you. We’re thinking about you.
What began as an idea shared by a few fans in 2017 is now one of the moments most closely associated with Iowa football.
Every home game. End of the first quarter. One stadium turning together to wave.
That’s the Hawkeye Wave.
