Iowa State football players and Mary Greeley Medical Center joined forces this season to provide community spirit on and off the field.

Before every home football game, Coach Dan McCarney took eight players to the hospital to visit with patients and sign programs.

Sue Ellen Wilcox, director of public and community relations for MGMC, said the players came in on the Friday before their home games and spent about 45 minutes with individual patients.

“I’ve been here at the hospital for 2 1/2 years and this is the first time an athletic team has wanted to do this,” Wilcox said. She said other groups have come in before, but never an athletic team.

Wilcox said she received a call from Assistant Coach Kirby Wilson, who acts as a liaison between the football team and the community. He said the ISU football team was interested in doing a community service project for the hospital throughout the season.

“My initial thought was that it would be a great idea for patients and it would boost their morale a great deal,” Wilcox said. “We were very glad to hear that the football team wanted to do this, and it was a great success.”

Wilcox said the football players have visited the pediatric, medical and surgical, and cancer units of the hospital.

“We saw a wide range of patients ranging from very young in the pediatrics to the elderly,” McCarney said. “It’s a great feeling for them to see the players and for us to get the response from the patients. It’s hard to see those that aren’t as fortunate to be up and around like us, and I think it brings sunshine to their faces when they see us there.”

Wilcox described one instance of a girl who had just received hip surgery. The public relations department had gone in to see if the girl was up to a visit, and when they entered, Wilcox said the girl was watching a tape of her brother’s football game.

She got exited when Wilcox asked her if she wanted the players to visit, and she called her parents. Wilcox said her parents came out for the occasion, wearing ISU apparel and touting a video camera.

“It brought a great deal of excitement for the whole family,” Wilcox said.

“The excitement and joy that the patients get out of this is tripled for the coaches and players,” McCarney added.

ISU running back, Troy Davis, the nation’s leading rusher and a projected Heisman Trophy candidate, said he definitely got a lot out of the visits.

“The patients would say something good to us, and that makes us feel good that they know about Iowa State football,” Davis said.

McCarney said Davis was a hot attraction at the hospital.

“It was no doubt that No. 28, Troy Davis, was the favorite,” he said. The coach said Davis signed just as many autographs for the doctors and nurses as he did for the patients.

“Troy was super, as well as all the other players,” McCarney said. “I like to be involved in the community with the football players, and it brings great satisfaction and gratification for all those involved.”

Wilcox said she would love to see the men’s basketball team come to the hospital as well.