Open letter to all concerned in making this decision:

I have contemplated writing this letter for many weeks since hearing of the “irreversible” decision to drop men’s varsity gymnastics as a competitive sport at the University of Iowa.  Why did it take me so long to do so?  What good would it do?  I have come to the conclusion that those who have made this judgment must be made aware of the impact this can have on an individual person like me had it happened when I attended the University of Iowa.

I arrived in Iowa City from Chicago along with a train full of students in the fall of 1956, just a few months after graduating from a high school in a small steel mill town in western Pennsylvania.  I was a gymnast, but not necessarily of the caliber of those competing at the UI.  A close friend who was a medical doctor in Chicago and played football for a time at Iowa encouraged me to attend the UI rather than the small college near my home to which I had been accepted.  I took his advice.

The doctor made a call to the gymnastics coach Richard “Dick” Holzaepfel and asked him to meet me at the station and arrange for my admission. Needless to say, as I sat on that train full of students, I had no idea where I was going or what was ahead of me.

Due to the remarkable character of coach Holzaepfel, I was embraced as a full member of that team despite that my gymnastic skills were definitely not of the caliber of those on the team, some of whom were recruited internationally.  I attended practice every day for four years. In my senior year, Holzaepfel put me in the lineup on Horizontal Bar in a home dual meet.  I scored in the sevens.  He awarded me a “letter”, and I proudly wear my lettermen’s ring to this day.

As I reflect on my experience at the UI, I realize that the classroom education which I received, although much of it forgotten, was beneficial to my career but, what I learned every day from 4 to 6:30 p.m. in the gymnasium was invaluable to my career not only as a gymnastic coach, but as an educator.

The mission statement for the university begins,

“In pursuing its missions of teaching, research, and service, the university seeks to advance scholarly and creative endeavor through leading-edge research and artistic production.”

It is interesting that this important statement includes the words, “creative endeavor” and “artistic production,” words that define the sport of gymnastics.  It is also interesting that the list of factors that went into the “thorough process in which all financial options and each of [the] programs were reviewed”, included, at the top of the list:

• History of the sport at Iowa
• Sponsorship of the sport at the NCAA Division I level
• Historical competitive success, within the Big Ten Conference and NCAA Division I

Without question, men’s gymnastics ranks very highly in these items on the list.  Three of sports that were dropped were also men’s, which makes me question if this was really a way to become more compliant with Title IX.

But what seems to confirm my thoughts about the integrity of the reasons given for eliminating men’s gymnastics are the statements, “If donors step forward, will any of these programs be retained?” The university answered, “our decision to reduce our program offerings is final.”

In my utmost humility, I will inform you that I have been inducted into three Halls of Fame; the Slippery Rock University Sports Hall of Fame, a Division II school, with my coaching gymnastics team winning percentage of .576 (114-81) record against primarily Division I schools; the Mercer County (PA) Hall of Fame and most recently, the Farrell High School Alumni Hall of Fame.  After my four years of teaching at the secondary level, where I started both a boy’s and girl’s gymnastics team, I had a very successful teaching and coaching career at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania where I was awarded Professor Emeritus status upon my retirement.

I can profoundly state that, had the gymnastics team at Iowa been eliminated while I was attending the university some 60 years ago, the extent of my success in both my life and professional career and the effect that I had on my thousands of students and athletes would have been diminished. Such is the result of a decision on one individual life, and the thousands of lives affected by that one life.

–Stephen J. Banjak, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania professor emeritus college of education