'Jack Trice broke barriers': New sculpture commemorating ISU player installed at stadium

Iowa State University next week will dedicate a new sculpture that honors its first Black student athlete that was installed piece-by-piece on Tuesday.

"Breaking Barriers" is a 200,000 pound concrete and bronze sculpture honoring Jack Trice that a crane lowered into place. The sculpture, located in the Albaugh Family Plaza just north of the namesake Jack Trice Stadium, commemorates the centennial of the former football player's death.

Trice was a member of the Cyclone football and track and field teams who studied animal husbandry and was 21 years old when he died Oct. 8, 1923 from injuries he suffered in his second collegiate football game.

First commemorative event for the centennial of Jack Trice's death

Visitors will be able to walk through a cut out in the shape of Trice as an offensive lineman that serves as a sort of archway in the sculpture. It intends to "invoke the spirit of perseverance, memory/reflection and subsequent contemplation regarding our current state of unrest surrounding the subject of inequality," according to a description of the sculpture on the Jack Trice commemoration website, jacktrice100.com.

"As an African American working here at Iowa State University, it really means a lot to me to see these type of sculptures and things that are really placed here to honor breaking barriers," Toyia Younger, senior vice president for student affairs and chair of the Jack Trice Commemoration Committee, said Tuesday as the sculpture was installed. "That's exactly what he did. I am convinced, even though I am not a football player, Jack Trice broke barriers so that I could be here."

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Younger said when Trice attend Iowa State there were only about 20 Black students at the university, "so it was a big deal, particularly so early in the 1900s to even have African Americans studying at predominantly white campuses. A lot of campuses didn't even begin integrating until the 1950s."

Ivan Toth Depeña, the artist from Charlotte, North Carolina, who designed the sculpture, said the work captures density and fluidity, struggle and success.

Depeña said it's the largest chunk of material he's ever worked with and it's his first project in the Midwest. He drew inspiration from a series of works from Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo that depicted slaves emerging from but still partially encapsulated in slabs of marble.

"It was not a direct reference but it was more of a direct response," he said. His choice to use Trice as a void in the stone, as opposed to leaving his figure caught in it "is a more liberating kind of response and reaction to the actual events that took place and what we're thinking about," he said.

The "Breaking Barriers" sculpture and celebration is the first in a series of commemorative events the university has planned throughout the year for the centennial of Trice's death.

Public dedication to be held in November

The sculpture's free public dedication at 4 p.m. Nov. 4 in the Albaugh Family Plaza will follow the city's action that morning to rename a section of South Fourth Street to Jack Trice Way. Younger said they will unveil the street sign at 2:30 p.m. that day.

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Parking for the sculpture dedication will be available in the lots north of Jack Trice Stadium. The event also is planned to include members of the Trice family, including his cousin George Trice.

The Iowa State University Alumni Association’s Homecoming Celebration and Pep Rally will follow the dedication from from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the ISU Alumni Center, 429 Alumni Lane.

Phillip Sitter covers education for the Ames Tribune, including Iowa State University and PreK-12 schools in Ames and elsewhere in Story County. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on Twitter @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: See the new Jack Trice sculpture at Iowa State's football stadium