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    “I’ AM LEAVING” THE UCONN …..

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    One of the sad realities for anyone who plays sports, at any level, is that one day your playing career will come to an end. Whether you took your last snap on the football field as a senior in high school or you go on to play in the pros, eventually time will catch up to you.

    Tons of athletes hope to play as long as their bodies will let them. For this young man from Waverly, Iowa, his college basketball career ended earlier than he would’ve hoped.

    Austin Phyfe started seeing gametime minutes the second he walked onto the UNI campus. As a freshman, he played in 28 games for the Panthers and in his first start, he scored 20 points and snagged 8 rebounds, according to UNI Panthers Basketball.

    During Austin’s second year of college basketball, his season ended a bit early as he suffered a season ending illness in the month of December. Austin was able to become a red shirt sophomore to add another year of eligibility to his college basketball career.

     

    During his redshirt sophomore year, Austin become a star for the UNI men’s basketball program. He became a First Team All-MVC player and also was an MVC First Team Scholar Athlete. Austin was shining on the court and in the classroom, according to UNI Panthers Basketball.

    As you can see in Austin’s Instagram post, his college basketball career will sadly come to an end. Austin missed last season with health issues and sadly more health issues have continued into this year. According to KCRG, Austin had surgery last June to remove blood clots on his lungs.

    With this surgery, Austin has decided forgo his remaining year of eligibility and he has medically retired from basketball.

     

    His 6’9 presence will surely be missed on the court by his teammates and coaches. He had moments where he dominated basketball games and the UNI basketball team will surely miss him in the upcoming season.

    Austin told UNI Basketball,

    Even though Austin won’t be playing for the UNI Panthers next season, he will remain involved with the program as he sets to begin graduate school this fall. Austin will end his career with the highest field goal percentage in UNI basketball history at 60.4% and is 53rd on UNI’s all time scoring list, according to UNI Basketball.

    Austin made sure to let the UNI Panthers fan know that he was incredibly thankful for all of the support he’s been shown throughout the years. He told UNI Basketball,

    You can tell Austin is respected and loved by his teammates. It’s awesome to hear all of the kind words they say about him in this video, made by Panthers Sports Talk, last season.

    Dan Gable

    Born in Waterloo in 1948, Gable is a true American legend. Gable is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion. He also holds a world gold medal, and is an Olympic gold medalist winning during the 1972 Munich games. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020 by President Donald Trump.

    Shawn Johnson

    Shawn Johnson grew-up in West Des Moines and was a medalist in the 2008 Olympics. She also won Dancing with the Stars and has been a fantastic ambassador to the sport of gymnastics, but also to her home state. In 2008 during the devastating floods, Johnson teamed with actor and fellow Iowan Ashton Kutcher to raise money to repair areas devastated by flooding. Johnson is married to Andrew East, a professional football player who played for Washington in 2018. She added his last name while keeping hers, and is now Shawn Johnson East.

    Kurt Warner

    The four-time Pro-Bowler was born in Burlington and raised in Cedar Rapids. He played college at UNI. He took the Rams to Super Bowl XXXIV. They not only won the game beating the Titans 23-16, Kurt Warner was named the MVP. There’s a movie about his life in the works.

    Nile Kinnick

    Nile Kinnick was born July 9, 1918 in Adel, Iowa. Long before the Iowa Hawkeye’s football stadium was named for him, he won the 1939 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback for the team. Sadly, he died at the age of 24. Kinnick was on a routine training flight from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which was off the coast of Venezuela in the Gulf of Paria. Kinnick had been flying for over an hour when his Grumman F4F Wildcat developed an oil leak so serious that he could neither reach land nor the Lexington, whose flight deck was in any case crowded with planes preparing for launch. Kinnick followed standard military procedure and executed an emergency landing in the water, but died in the process. Rescue boats arrived on the scene just eight minutes later, but they found only an oil slick. His body was never recovered.

     

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