IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The late James Arlyss Raecker, a dedicated family man and longtime Waterloo, Iowa, dentist, bought season tickets at Kinnick Stadium in 1958, a great year for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa lost only to Ohio State that fall and qualified to play in its second Rose Bowl, for which Jim Raecker and his newlywed wife, Thieleane, traveled to Pasadena, California. Thieleane was pregnant, and today, Steve Raecker, 56, claims that Rose Bowl win over Cal as his first appearance -- in utero -- watching the Hawkeyes.
This season, again unfolding as special for No. 12 Iowa, which is 7-0 for the fifth time ever, marks the 92nd year for the Raecker family with season tickets.