Iowa Hawkeyes Wave Again Named USA Today’s Best College Sports Tradition

It has to be the most wholesome tradition in all of college football.

It's a simple gesture of Iowa Nice: the wave at Hawkeye games. And with a new football season underway, we're sure to soon see the wave plenty of more times at Kinnick.

In 2024, USA Today named the Iowa wave the 'Best College Sports Tradition'. And for 2025, the Hawkeye wave was again named the best tradition in college sports.

According to Hawkeye Sports, the Wave started in 2017. Long before the wave, the University of Iowa and UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital teamed up to have the 'Kid Captains' at Iowa home games starting in 2009. Now, that Kid Captain also gets to choose what song the stadium plays during the Wave.

It's worth noting that Nebraska did not make the list.

Rounding out the rest of the top 5 were:

• 5. The 12th Man (Texas A&M)
• 4. Rolling Toomer's Corner (Auburn)
• 3. Sooner Schoomer (Oklahoma)
• 2. Cowbell (Mississippi State)

USA Today said about the Iowa Wave:

The top floor of the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital has an incredible view of the university's Kinnick Stadium, which is perfect for the pediatric patients who want to watch the game. At the end of the first quarter, everyone in the stadium — over 70,000 football fans, players, and officials — turns to wave at the kids and families above them. Now, for each home game, a "Kid's Captain" is selected from the pediatric ward, and they get to choose a song to accompany the Hawkeye Wave.

Every team has their traditions. But it's safe to say Iowa's Wave is the most wholesome of them all.