Thanks, Caitlin. We needed you

Almost everything that can be said about Caitlin Clark has been said. A transcendent player. A generational player, gracious and generous. Someone who has elevated not just women’s basketball but the game of basketball to a higher public awareness. It’s all true, but I think there is much more about this player and her team that explains the massive public reaction to their success.

We needed Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. The pandemic and the societal unrest that accompanied it has changed us all. We have worked ourselves into a society with a paper thin veneer at risk of offending someone of something every time we open our mouths. It’s not like Caitlin Clark is a new arrival on the scene. She was a great player in high school and has obviously been on a meteoric rise to world class fame ever since. Nor is it something new about Lisa Bluder. She built a great program at Drake and has just continued to do great things in Iowa.

No, what happened is the perfect convergence of time and events. Clark and the Hawkeye women arrived on the scene at just the right time and have given us a big dose of a few things we all need: Grit, determination, confidence, hope, class, grace, teamwork, commitments and — most importantly — joy.

I have heard nothing political or racial in any of the conversations about this amazing young woman. What a relief and what a legacy. Thank you, Caitlin.

Richard Phillips

Des Moines