Walking into the basement of State Gym, the sight of an ISU Boxing Club practice is what most would expect: Extremely in-shape students gritting their teeth while jabbing punching bags with a look of determination on their faces.

Beneath the surface, however, lie the minds of future doctors, lawyers and engineers. Coach Terry Dowd is determined to keep it that way by demanding that excellence in the classroom comes before putting on the gloves.

“Everyone I’ve coached in 28 years has graduated, and that’s my main thing here,” Dowd said. “You have to have a 2.5 [grade point average] to work out, and 3.0 to compete.”

This weekend, 12 of Dowd’s boxers will compete in the Iowa Golden Gloves competition in Des Moines. For Christopher Meyers, sophomore in civil engineering, it will be his first time competing in a boxing tournament since taking up the sport as a freshman.

“When I was in high school I played hockey, so I kind of always wanted to get aggressive, but I’ve come here and controlled it,” he said. “Boxing is a good stress reliever in a healthy way. You get a workout and let out your aggression out on the bag – and not take it out on the engineering books all day.”

Dowd, a 56-year-old Vietnam War veteran and stroke survivor, has led 23 national champions and 43 All-Americans during his tenure as coach of the club.

His focus isn’t on awards in the ring, however.

“My agenda is that you will graduate and I will find you later in life if you don’t,” he said. “Be a professional person when you leave here, not a professional athlete. You have to be a professional person when you leave here.”

When Dowd speaks, it’s apparent he cares about his boxers.

“When you box for Iowa State, you join a family, not just a team,” he said. “The first thing you do at practice is find out if everybody is OK – if their grades are up, if their family is OK . that’s part of boxing. You don’t just hit a bag and go home.”

Dowd’s boxers take their coach’s words to heart. Despite being ripped with muscles most students don’t even know exist, the men and women of the ISU Boxing Club display politeness, speak with soft voices and look you in the eye when they shake your hand.

“Coach Dowd’s real good, I like him a lot,” said Benjamin Marcov, junior in operations and supply chain management. “He’s a real inspiration for all of us. He’s bullheaded – but in a good way – and he won’t ever let you quit.”

Marcov is one of four club members competing at the National Collegiate Boxing Association’s national tournament in Reno, Nev., April 6 to 8. Heavyweight Marcov said he’s not your typical big man when he dons the gloves.

“I try to move around the ring a lot more fluid than most,” Marcov said. “For being a big guy, most people expect me to be brawling out there, but I try to be a more agile boxer.”

Because of budget constraints, Dowd took it upon himself to make sure his boxers get a chance to compete at nationals.

“The school doesn’t give us a whole lot of money, so I put the plane tickets to Reno for everybody on my credit card,” Dowd said. “I’ve done that before on about 10 different trips – trips to Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania – I paid for those out of my pocket.”

Despite the cost, Dowd noted that it’s worth every penny in the end.

“I don’t get paid a lot of money, but I get paid back when kids go on to be professional people,” he said. “I have guys in the FBI and CIA, as well as high school principals, school teachers, doctors, lawyers. Out of one team, I had four doctors and three lawyers.”

Meyers believes boxing receives a bum rap from many people because of false notions about the sport.

“Boxing is perceived the sport of bad-asses and really, it’s not,” he said.

“All of us get along and nobody here thinks they’re better than anyone else.”