Twenty years ago today Iowa power forward Chris Street was heading home after a team dinner with his girlfriend Kim Vinton. It was snowing. After leaving The Highlander, located outside of Iowa City, Street skidded and collided with a snow plow while entering a highway. He was killed and Vinton badly hurt. She recovered while the Hawkeyes lost the heart and soul of their team.
Today Iowa will remember Street at tonight's game versus Wisconsin. He already has an award named for him that is handed out to the Hawkeye hoopster who best "exemplifies the spirit, intensity and enthusiasm of Chris Street". His number 40 was retired in 1993.
Chris was drafted in my NCAA Tournament fantasy league--by then already named in honor of another fallen warrior, Hank Gathers--in 1992 and played in two games as the Hawkeyes lost to eventual champion Duke for the second straight year. Street would have been selected fairly high in 1993 as the Hawkeyes probably would have been seeded higher without his loss (they were 11-3 with him). As it is they were a four seed and lost to Wake Forest in the second round.
As Street's Iowa coach Tom Davis said in 1993, "Chris represented all that is good about the Midwest and the state of Iowa. He was open, caring, honest, loving and lived life to the fullest every day."
No comments:
Post a Comment