Levi Peters, ISU’s volunteer king

AMES — Levi Peters' long, scruffy beard and imposing physical frame belies the gentleness with which he speaks about his volunteer shifts.

Peters, a starting linebacker on the Iowa State University football team, spends every football Friday visiting patients at the Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames. He wears his No. 35 jersey on his encounters, and he receives more than he gives.

'You'll have the Iowa State fans, you'll have the Iowa fans, you'll have neither,' Peters said. 'You'll just have the people who are so happy to see you. You see a little bit of everything. It's fun.'

Peters arrived at Iowa State as a non-scholarship athlete from Fort Dodge. When he was a young player with little chance to play, Peters realized wearing a Cyclone uniform had reach beyond the football field. He joined other team members on the Cyclones' weekly trips to the hospital. He obliged, and it changed his life.

'Even though I was a walk-on that nobody knew, I could make someone happy by being a football player,' Peters said. 'That made me really think how I can affect this community. It's something I've done since then and continue to do more and more as I get older.'

Peters' stature since has grown. He's now a starter and a team captain. Many patients recognize him by name and face. But with grace, Peters offers the same support as he did his inauspicious freshman season.

Around Iowa State's athletics department Peters is known as the volunteer king. Winter or summer, in-season or off-season, Peters pays it forward as a Cyclone. His favorite event was last May's Special Olympics in Ames. He played catch, shot hoops and let the Olympians wear his football jersey. They came to him with a special request, and he was happy to accommodate.

'This year I painted my face as a tiger,' Peters said. 'One of the kids told me to do it, so I did it.'

Iowa State players elected Peters, a 22-year-old junior, as a team captain. That demonstrates leadership on and off the field. Nobody embodies that more than Peters, ISU football coach Paul Rhoads said.

'What takes place before game day gets you elected to that position,' Rhoads said. 'He's in the hospital with us, he's in the elementary schools, he's doing things that we don't even organize whether it's here or back in his local area. A special human being as far as caring and dedicated and giving everything that he has on the field.'

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