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Cyclones Jeff Hornacek
Hornacek redshirted at Iowa State University (ISU) in 1981; he was a team walk-on who played from 1982 to 1986. The son of a high school basketball coach, he became an all-conference player in the Big Eight Conference, playing for coach Johnny Orr. As a point guard, he guided the Cyclones to the Sweet Sixteen of the 1986 NCAA tournament. His shining moment came at the Metrodome in Minneapolis when, after first hitting a shot to tie the game and send it to overtime, Hornacek hit the game-winning shot in overtime, a 26-foot jumper at the buzzer, to give ISU its first NCAA tournament victory since 1944, beating Miami University, March 14, 1986, 81–79. Two days later, he led the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen, in a 72–69 upset of second seed Michigan. Orr, who had previously left Michigan to coach at Iowa State, called it the greatest victory of his career. Hornacek left ISU with a Big-8 record of 665 career assists and 1,313 career points. He was the fourth player in Cyclone basketball history to have his number retired when his No. 14 jersey was hung from the rafters of Hilton Coliseum in 1991.
From the early 1970s until his death on March 5, 2003, Pete Taylor was the “Voice of the Cyclones”. Initially, Pete both worked the ISU events and was the sports director at KCCI TV, formerly KRNT TV. He provided play by play coverage of Iowa State Cyclones Athletics over the Cyclone network both on the radio and on the television. In 1990 after he left KCCI, Taylor joined the Iowa State staff full-time. Following Pete’s death, John Walters succeeded Pete as the “Voice of the Cyclones” on June 17, 2003, providing play by play coverage on both the radio and the television. Initially, John both worked the ISU events and was the sports director at WOI TV. In June 2012, John left WOI TV and joined the Iowa State staff full-time.
College Sports Established
1908
Location
Ames, Iowa
College Name
Iowa State University
Collegiate History
1973 – Present / NCAA Division 1
1921 – 1973 / University Division of the NCAA
1908 – 1921 / Athletic Association of the United States
Conference History
1996 – Present / Big 12 Conference
1957 – 1996 / Big Eight Conference
1928 – 1956 / Big Six Conference
1908 – 1927 / Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Nickname
Cyclones – The “Cyclones” name dates back to 1895. That year, Iowa suffered an unusually high number of devastating cyclones (as tornadoes were called at the time). In September, the football team from what was then Iowa Agricultural College traveled to Northwestern University and defeated that team by a score of 36-0. The next day, the Chicago Tribune’s headline read “Struck by a Cyclone: It Comes from Iowa and Devastates Evanston Town.” The article began, “Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday.” The nickname stuck.
NCAA Championships
Baseball 0
Men’s Basketball 0
Women’s Basketball 0
Football 0
Soccer 0