April 2, 2001. The place is Ames, Iowa. The time is 8:30 a.m. It's a Monday morning. And a phone is ringing.
Twenty-three-year-old Spencer Allen picks up. It's an odd time to be getting a phone call. The message that comes through the phone makes it even stranger.
Ten o'clock, it tells him. In the football lounge. Everybody.
Allen didn't really know what to make of it. The scrappy second baseman and his Iowa State Cyclones were riding high after taking two of three from Big 12 power Oklahoma State in a weekend series, and had an off day.