Iowa Hawkeye Pay It Forward

Derek Richards wanted to do something nice.  He wanted to share his Iowa Hawkeye spirit and his Hawkeye football tickets with another Hawkeye fanatic.  Most importantly, he wanted them the tickets to go to someone deserving: a military person, a community activists or maybe a young fan who wanted to attend their first Iowa Hawkeye football game.

Derek reached out to Hawkeye Heaven via Facebook to offer his tickets to a deserving fan.

I'd like to offer 2 FREE tickets to the toughest ticket of the year, the Penn State game on October 12th. I'd like for them to go to someone very deserving, so feel free to nominate yourself or someone you know. I'll give the tickets to the most deserving person/story, so please comment your nomination on this post (or DM me if you'd like to be private/anonymous) by Sunday, August 25th.
I'd love for them to go to an active or former member of our military, or to a child wanting to attend their first Iowa game, or to someone who has gone above and beyond for their community, or for a parent who has gone above and beyond for their family. Or someone of that ilk :)
I'm hopeful I'll come across more than one deserving person, but I only have a single pair of tickets, so please only submit if you'll understand if you don't get picked.
Thanks, and Go Hawks!

Six days later, Derek found a perfect person to give his Row 13 tickets to October 12th's home game against Penn State.  That person was Raymond Reynolds.

Over 150 people either commented or sent me a personal message on Facebook, so picking a single person out of the bunch was VERY challenging! Sorry I couldn't split the 2 tickets 20 different ways, but I selected Raymond Reynolds to receive the tickets. He spent 22 years in the military with a deployment to Iraq in 2003. His daughters served as part of the 3rd generation of his family to be deployed to war. His son is training to be an astronaut and will soon join the Air Force. He currently serves as a police officer and fire chief. He works 2 part-time jobs as a firefighter and a paramedic. He was the first officer in the door in 1991 at the mass shooting at the U of I with Gang Lu and the first officer on scene to Chris Street's car crash. He's delivered 3 babies in his career & reunited a Marine (Ross Gundlach) with a military dog he served with. He also worked with a group to deliver a fire truck from North Pole, Alaska to Zambia to aide with reducing fire deaths. That's all...Oh, and he's an Iowa fan! Congrats Raymond, sounds like it's well-deserved!

Raymond is a great guy and, in turn, he felt that he wanted to repay Derek's act of kindness and pay it forward.  Raymond reached out to Hawkeye Heaven, too, and offered to donate his most prized Iowa Hawkeye possessions for auction and the winning bid going to charity! Thus beginning, what we are hoping to become the "THE IOWA HAWKEYE PAY IT FORWARD"!

Dear Hawkeye Heaven:
Derek Richards unselfishly chose to give two Iowa vs. Penn State football tickets to a worthy person simply because he wanted to do something nice. I was the recipient of his generous act.
It's been weighing on my heart for the last 24 hours. Derek didn't have to do this act of human kindness. So this is where I need your help with your following.
I'd like to pay Derek's act of kindness forward and affect someone else. My most prized Hawkeye collection item is business cards signed by Hayden Fry 28 years ago and one signed by Kirk Ferentz in roughly 2000. Tonight I took them off the wall and will have them framed together in one custom museum grade frame.
I'd like to auction this item and use 100% of the funds to make a donation to the charity of Coach Ferentz' choice under Derek Richards' name. Either Ronald McDonald house or the U of I Children's Hospital.
My new friend Derek and I will announce the winner at the Penn State game Oct 12. To prove our sincere nature, the highest bidder will go with Derek and I to the charity to directly hand over their donation. No middle man involved. We will use your site for documenting the bid unless you have a better idea?
Derek Richards from Cedar Rapids is the definition of a great Hawkeye. Thank you for allowing me to honor Derek's nice deed.

Raymond has an incredible amount of Hawkeye memorabilia but we can't think of anything more rare than his Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz signed business cards.  Take a look at Raymond's basement that is filled with Hawkeye memories!

All of these items are very near and dear to Raymond's heart but none of these memories are as special as the memory he got to share with his daughter during her first "WAVE" at Kinnick Stadium.

To bid on the FRAMED Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz autographed business cards please click here and reply in the comments in this post.  Remember, 100% of the winning bid is going to charity and Raymond hopes the winning bidder chooses to "IOWA HAWKEYE PAY IT FORWARD" themselves.

We are currently working to get the audio from Raymond's interview on "Don't Hassle Us We're Local" up so you can listen to this amazing story.  Please bear with us.