Crowds welcome home Hawkeyes, call them ‘bigger than basketball’

CORALVILLE — It wasn’t entirely the welcome they wanted, one in which they hoisted a national championship trophy above their heads before throngs of adoring fans.

But it was the one the University of Iowa women’s basketball team deserved, as hundreds if not thousands of black-and-gold faithful overwhelmed the team’s bus upon its arrival in Coralville on Monday to celebrate the legendary squad’s achievements not only this season and for this state but for the sport and female athletes everywhere.

“Bigger than basketball,” was scrawled on one woman’s homemade sign, among dozens that bounced above the sea of heads outside the Hyatt Regency Coralville Hotel & Conference Center just before 4 p.m. Monday.

“She definitely helped me through a lot,” 10-year-old Chandler Felton, of Ely, told The Gazette about Hawkeye star Caitlin Clark and why she wanted to greet the team upon its return to Iowa City.

“Just watching her definitely helped my form in basketball,” Chandler said. “It made me more confident.”

So when the Hawkeyes lost a heartbreaker to the Louisiana State University Tigers on Sunday in the NCAA national championship, Chandler wanted to return the favor.

“I hope that they got some confidence,” she said about the massive crowd. “I hope that they feel like there’s lots of supporters out there for them. And that they should be really proud.”

Before the team buses rolled up Monday, families with young kids squeezed in beside older couples and teenagers to line Ninth Street and flood the Iowa River Landing District with chants of “I-O-W-A” and “Let’s go hawks!”

Mila Mrgich, 7, of North Liberty, had arrived home only hours earlier from Dallas, where she watched in person both the action-packed nail-biter Friday that sent the Hawkeyes to the championship, along with the final game.

“She's the only one that went with her mom and her grandpa,” said her dad, Tom Mrgich, who stayed home with their other kids. “It was kind of a little solo trip for her and her mom because they are super fans.”

Unlike Mila and her family, Emily Bernacki, 18, didn’t go to any games this season — but fell in love with the team nonetheless. She also found herself appreciating the unique qualities of women’s basketball.

“I never really liked boys’ basketball, but girls’ basketball is something different,” she said.

Bernacki’s enthusiasm grew as the Hawkeyes advanced deeper into their historic playoff run. But when asked her thoughts on the last game, she said with a smile, “I better keep my mouth shut.”

The players put it best, Bernacki said, pointing to them as the reason she showed up Monday.

“Hopefully this is just a little, ‘We got you,’ ” she said.

After the buses rolled up to explosive cheers and chants, coaches and players stepped out and spent more than an hour snapping pictures and signing autographs on shirts and balls and shoes.

A beaming 10-year-old Chandler showed off a selfie she snapped with her hero.

“I love Caitlin,” she said. “I’ve definitely gotten much more into basketball because of her.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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