Rediscovering Chris Street – January 16, 2008

Chris Street

I promised friend and fellow Wartburg grad Jesse Gavin that I would find this post I wrote for Juice in January 2008.  This was written to mark the 15th anniversary of Chris Street‘s death.  Street was a standout player for the Iowa Hawkeyes and an All-Stater at Indianola High.

Significant events in Iowa sports history are abundant in our collective minds. For many of us, we remember when Iowa was one game away from making the Final Four in 1987, Cael Sanderson going 159-0 on the mat, Dan Gable and Iowa reeling off 10 straight wrestling national titles, and UNI upending Missouri in 1990 in the first round of the NCAA tournament, to name a few.

Then there are those that invoke memories and emotions that are difficult to relive, much less look back in perspective.

Saturday will mark the 15th anniversary of the death of Chris Street. Street was a standout player for the Iowa Hawkeyes, an all-state and all-elite player for Indianola, and a beloved fan favorite across the state. Street was killed in a car-snowplow truck collision after he pulled out of a local Iowa City hotel where the team met for dinner the night before they were scheduled to play Michigan.

To those who vaguely remember it and to those who may have heard little or nothing about Chris Street, it’s an appropriate time for several of us who remember Street to give our personal recollections of Street and why his death is considered one of the darkest days in sports history in this state.

The first time I heard of Street, I was in 8th grade at Jack Logan Intermediate School in Waterloo. Pundits predicted that Street and his Indianola Indians was the team to beat in Class 3-A prep basketball. Many of us in Waterloo didn’t like that one bit. We strongly felt our Trojans of East Waterloo High was the team to beat with Mike Davis dominating the lane, Cortez McGhee, Chris Roby, and the gang blowing opponents out of the gym in the old Big 8 Conference.

Waterloo Courier's headline of East High winning the 3A title over Iowa City High on March 18, 1990.

As late February rolled in, many fans in 3-A were holding their breaths to see who’ll play at Vets Auditorium in mid-March. Defending champs Iowa City High, North Davenport, East, Ankeny, and Indianola were among the 8 teams that won substate and moved on. The Indians and the Trojans both won their first round games. The highly anticipated matchup was set: Davis vs. Street.

It was semifinal Friday. Terry Meier’s algebra class couldn’t calm down enough to take the chapter test, because it was already a crazy day at school. UNI was playing Missouri in the first round of the Big Dance, and East would play later that afternoon.

I was sitting by the window as we started to take the test. 10 minutes later, we heard muffled screams from Mr. Vanderbeek’s science class down the hall. Mr. Meier gets up from his desk and walks out. Two minutes later, he returned and told us that UNI won on a Maurice Newby three-pointer with :03 seconds left. Yes! One down, one to go! School dismissed around 2:30 that afternoon and we rushed home to watch East and Indianola.

The neighborhood exploded when the final horn sounded as East defeated Indianola to play City High in the finals. The Indians would go on to beat Ankeny for the 3rd place trophy. East beat City in overtime to win the state title.

(Courtesy of the Indianola School District)

Street went on to Iowa, where he was an important part of a hard-working Tom Davis squad with Paul Lusk, Jay Webb, James Moses, and others. Whether you were a Hawk fan or not, everyone respected his hard play and dedication to help the Hawks win.

The Saturday before his death, Iowa played at Duke. As much as Iowa tried, Duke prevailed. I still thought that the refs “helped” the Dukies win. They hardly ever lose in Cameron Indoor Stadium. And, as a Hawk fan is quite known to do, we start bickering at the television, playing the coach on the couch and second guessing what Dr. Tom and the kids did.

January 19, 1993, was an ordinary Tuesday night across the state. I was a sophomore at East. We were playing crosstown against our hated rivals, West, at Siddens Gym. After an up and down first half, we started to coast in the second half. I could have sworn that I saw West coach Mike Hurn wave the white flag yet again, as he and Wahawks conceded defeat to East High for the umpteenth time, by the score of 105-77. After the game, my uncle drove me home and we talked about the game. I walked into the door and flipped on the television around 9:56 pm, so I could greedily smile when they showed the East-West highlights.

At 10:00 sharp, the news came on and the news anchor the delivered the news that many of us never expected. “Tragic news from Iowa City this evening, as Iowa basketball player Chris Street was killed, and his girlfriend seriously injured, in a collison with a snowplow…” My eyes bulged as I watched and heard what was being said. “This can’t be, this can’t be…” I said to myself.

For the next hour, I stood there in silence, numbed by the realization that not only did a young man died, but an individual many young fans wanted to grow to emulate and older fans loved to support. The power of Street’s death has no comparison to any other tragic event, because each one is different. Iowa fans, Iowa State fans, Drake and UNI fans were in shock. We were somewhat immune to other tragic stories like this anyplace else, but for it to happen to someone we knew, it was a completely different feeling.

The rest of the week was a cloud. All I could remember was that I had class, boy/girl tap dance practice for the spring variety show, and East had a home game on Friday. Once in a while, about every 3 or 4 years, someone would bring up Christopher Michael Street and I think back to that Tuesday night glued to the t.v. as reporters rushed to Iowa City to the accident scene.

Life started to return to normal, but the accident was still fresh in our minds. To me, it’s feels like it was a long time ago, but to remember Chris Street, in life and in death, is a fresh as last night.

It was time for me to “rediscover” Chris Street, as Saturday approaches.