IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Andrew McKeever is hard to miss at an Iowa practice. The St. Mary’s transfer and center stands 7 feet, 3 inches tall and averaged 8.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last season.

‘Nothing like I’ve seen in practice’

Teammates have taken notice of McKeever’s size. Forward Trey Thompson said the center’s hands alone drew a reaction.

“Yeah, he’s big. That’s for sure. I saw him looking at his phone and it looked like a tiny, little iPod in his hand. I was like, ‘Geez, man,’” Thompson said.

Forward Joey Matteoni said McKeever’s presence in the paint stands apart from what he has seen in recent seasons.

“He controls the paint for sure and nothing like I’ve seen in practice the last couple of years. No offense to Cam (Manyawu), but I mean 7′3” is just different,” Matteoni said.

McKeever on why Iowa made sense

McKeever said the decision to transfer to Iowa was straightforward.

“It was a pretty obvious choice for me,” McKeever said. “Their team was so good last year, making an Elite 8 run. I was maybe a key piece that they needed with a little bit more size, even though their bigs were good, but they just didn’t have the height as some of the other teams did in the Big Ten. So I figured I could help in that way.”

From baseball to basketball

McKeever was not always a basketball player. He stood around 6 feet, 2 inches early in high school before a significant growth spurt changed his trajectory.

“I was like 6′2” during COVID and then I grew to 6′10″ when I was out of COVID. I was playing baseball at the time, and I was like, yeah, I got to go to basketball. I locked in during my sophomore season,” McKeever said.

His high school coach pushed him to make the switch permanent.

“My high school coach who I had been with growing up said, ‘You need to stop playing baseball and just focus on basketball.’ That’s kind of when it flipped the switch for me,” McKeever said.

Adjusting to his own size

Even after committing to basketball, McKeever said adapting to his own frame took time.

“Maybe a little uncoordinated and slow for my size. But I kind of worked on it a lot when I was at St. Mary’s and I got better at it,” McKeever said.

McKeever now joins Iowa’s program under head coach Ben McCollum.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – World War II veteran Laverne Severson turns 100 years old on July 14. On Thursday, family, friends and fellow veterans gathered at the Freedom Foundation in Cedar Rapids to honor and celebrate the milestone birthday.

The National World War II Museum says fewer than 1% of World War II veterans remain alive.

Laverne served as a line medic during the war and was stationed in the Philippines.

“As soon as I turned 18, it didn’t take me about a month until I was going overseas,” Laverne said.

His son, Boyd Severson, recalled stories his father shared about life at his base.

“His base over there, he told me they would get air raids every morning. The Japanese would do an air raid and they’d have to run and jump into their foxholes. And this is stuff you see in movies, and he actually lived through this,” Boyd said.

Eric Parker, assistant director of the Freedom Foundation, said veterans like Laverne deserve recognition.

“As long as we are allowed to still be graced with their presence, then we need to just soak that up and just be really thankful,” Parker said. “There needs to be a remembrance and there needs to be a legacy there that we can honor.”

Boyd said the number of surviving World War II veterans in Iowa underscores the importance of events like Thursday’s celebration.

“Slowly but surely we’re losing this generation that, from what I’ve seen, there’s 250 to 275 surviving World War II veterans remaining in Iowa, and my father’s one of them and they all should be recognized. It all should be honored,” Boyd said.

And we had to ask…what’s the secret to a century of life?

“Crackers and peanut butter in the morning for breakfast!” Laverne said.