By JEFF HUTTON

TIMES-REPUBLICAN

GLADBROOK – The flagpole in Pat White’s yard is covered in rust and admittedly, needs a fresh coat of paint.

But for 10 years, every Saturday during football season, that pole proudly lifts the Iowa Hawkeye banner, a reminder for diehard Hawkeye fan White that the structure once stood tall at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

But how did the flagpole make its way from Iowa City to Gladbrook?

It was in 2005 and Kinnick Stadium was undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation effort.

“Well, [fellow Marshall County Sheriff’s Office colleague] Steve Sodders took me to Iowa City where his dad was a construction foreman, so we could get some bricks,” White said.

“About a week later, [Sodders] called me and asked if I was interested in the flagpole. I said ‘Absolutely!'”

So, Sodders’ father arranged to haul the pole, about 600 lbs., to State Center, where Sodders resides. From there, White’s brother loaded the pole onto a flatbed truck for the journey from State Center to White’s residence in Gladbrook.

“Then I had two friends with a winch to help me set it up,” he said.

White, the jail supervisor at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, said the pole represents the history and legacy of Kinnick Stadium and Iowa Hawkeye football.

“I’ve been a Hawkeye fan forever. My entire immediate family were Cyclones fans, but I was tainted by the black and gold,” he said.

“My wife doesn’t like it because of the rust, but I like that it’s original,” White said, pointing to the pole. “I usually have the Hawkeye flag flying every Saturday for game day.”

Of course, with the success of the Iowa football program this season, and the team’s upcoming appearance at the Rose Bowl, White feels even more connected to his beloved Hawkeyes and will make sure the Hawkeye flag is waving on New Year’s Day.

“I’ll be right here watching the game … and obviously Iowa is gonna win,” he said.

White said he couldn’t be prouder of his Iowa Hawkeyes and as the current keeper of the flagpole that once held the Hawkeye banner in front of Kinnick Stadium.

“I told my wife that if we ever move, it’s going with me. It will take a small army to move it, but it’s going.”