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Caitlin Clark became a legend at Iowa. Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame almost changed history

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Caitlin Clark became a legend at Iowa. Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame almost changed history


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Caitlin Clark became a national sensation at Iowa − but her rise to stardom nearly didn’t happen as a Hawkeye.

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The current Indiana Fever star is an Iowa native and attended Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines.

In her senior season in 2019, she was committed to playing at Notre Dame, which had just won a national championship in 2018. Clark’s desire to be part of the Fighting Irish is revealed in the upcoming book “On Her Game,” by USA TODAY Sports’ Christine Brennan.

Then-coach Muffet McGraw was among the top women’s coaches in the country, and her strong team was appealing to Clark. McGraw first saw Clark play at an AAU tournament when she was a high school sophomore and remembered how great of a passer she was.

“Just how much she wanted to win, her competitive spirit. I just liked her right away,” McGraw said. “I remember talking to her, thinking, ‘I want to coach her.’ I just could relate to her. I thought we had a pretty good connection, which doesn’t always happen, because as I got older and kids got younger, I have nothing in common with them. But with her, it was different.

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“I always came away from my conversations with her thinking, ‘Man, I really want her, I really want her to come here. I think she’d be great.’”

Clark’s ‘soft commitment’ raises questions

However, something was off. Even though Clark told McGraw she’d play for her, she didn’t publicly reveal it.

McGraw noticed the “soft commitment” and how Clark was in contact with Iowa coaches. The Notre Dame coach ran into one of the Iowa staffers at a funeral and asked why they were still talking to Clark, at which point the Hawkeye staff member revealed it was Clark who was calling them.

“That’s when I knew, yeah, okay, we’re done,” McGraw said.

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Clark told McGraw in November 2019 she would not attend Notre Dame, the same month she announced her commitment to the Hawkeyes.

Clark’s decision was widely expected by college basketball coaches, as several knew she wanted to stay close to home. Even though McGraw and other coaches missed out on having the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, the two-time national championship winning coach believes Clark made the right call, adding her career could have been vastly different at a perennial women’s college basketball power such as Notre Dame or Connecticut.

“It would have been great to have her at Notre Dame, and our fan base would have loved her,” McGraw said. “But Iowa just made so much sense. She made a great decision, looking at how it turned out.”

Aside from scoring 3,951 points during her time at Iowa and becoming the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Clark led Iowa to back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2023 and 2024, making it all the way to the national championship game in both seasons.

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(Reprinted from “On Her Game” by Christine Brennan, Simon and Schuster, 2025)





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Iowa

5 people wounded in shooting near University of Iowa campus, including 3 students

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5 people wounded in shooting near University of Iowa campus, including 3 students


Five people were shot and injured at an Iowa City pedestrian mall near the University of Iowa campus overnight, police said Sunday. Students from the university were among the injured, according to school officials. 

The Iowa City Police Department responded to a report of a large fight in the 100 Block of East College Street at 1:46 a.m. early Sunday, the department said in a news release. Arriving officers heard gunfire. 

Multiple victims were hospitalized, police said. Police confirmed to CBS News that one person was in critical condition, while the other four victims are stable. 

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University of Iowa President Barb Wilson said in a statement that three students were among those shot. None of the victims has been publicly identified. 

No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing. Police said they are seeking information about five “persons of interest associated with this shooting.” The university also shared the request for information. 

The pedestrian mall was closed for several hours and reopened Sunday afternoon. 

The “persons of interest” being sought by Iowa City Police.

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Iowa City Police Department / University of Iowa




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Vote: Who Should be Iowa’s High School Athlete of the Week? (4/19/2026)

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Vote: Who Should be Iowa’s High School Athlete of the Week? (4/19/2026)


Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.

Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:

Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field

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Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.

Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field

Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.

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Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field

Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.

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Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field

Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.

Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis

Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.

Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf

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One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.

Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf

An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.

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Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field

Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.

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Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field

The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.

About Our Athlete of the Week Voting

High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.

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Houston icon George Foreman laid to rest in Iowa, drawn by a peaceful 1988 visit

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Houston icon George Foreman laid to rest in Iowa, drawn by a peaceful 1988 visit


The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.

Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.

The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.

After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.

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“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”

Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).

“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.

A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”

A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.

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Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.

He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.

A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.

Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.



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