W. Dean Eastman was first introduced to Drake University through a recruitment letter from Drake Track and Field coach Bob Karnes in April, 1966. Eastman had previously been contemplating playing football at the University of Wyoming after Wyoming alum and famed sportscaster Curt Gowdy had taken Eastman and fellow Andover football teammate Charlie Towne to lunch to encourage them to play football there.
Eastman entered the freshman class at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa in September 1966. At that time, Drake was a private university with an undergraduate enrollment of around 5,000. Drake was administered under the visionary leadership of President Paul F. Sharp.
Drake’s urban campus included a wonderful integration of traditional and modern architecture. The architecture of Drake’s campus constructed after World War II included nine buildings designed by Eliel Saarninen and his son Eero, widely considered two of the greatest architects of the 20th-century. Eero Saarninen went on to design the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
Drake’s campus also included Journalism Building Merideth Hall, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who was the director of the Bauhaus School of Modern Architecture, and regarded along with Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, as one of the pioneers of modern architecture. Drake’s Hubbell Dining Hall displayed a mural titled “Allée” by world renowned artist Stuart Davis.
In addition to its innovative campus architecture, Drake has always maintained a rigorous academic and intellectual environment. George Gallop of polling fame was Drake’s first professor of journalism. During Eastman’s four years at Drake there were a number of nationally recognized professors in residence, including noted poets E.L. Mayo and Gary Gildner, novelist Henry Gregor Felson, political scientist Frank Wilhoit and legendary Communications professor and Drake Relays announcer Jim Duncan.
Drake also received national recognition for their intercollegiate men’s athletic program. Although the Drake women’s athletic program was still in its infancy during those years, the men’s program competed at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics. In addition to outstanding scholar-athletes, Drake’s success was attributed to a number of distinguished coaches, including head track and field coach and Drake Relays director Bob Karnes, National Collegiate Basketball Coach of the Year Maury John, football coach Jack Wallace, wrestling coach Lonnie Timmerman and baseball coach Spike Potts.
Drake’s track and field team was nationally recognized and hosted the world-famous Drake Relays the last weekend of each April, including the annual Drake Relays Parade in downtown Des Moines.
Drake hosted the 1970 NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships. Drake’s Rick Wanamaker won the Decathlon and Drake’s Mile Relay Team placed fifth. Wanamaker went on to become a National AAU and Pan-American Games Champion. Unfortunately, Wanamaker sprained his ankle while competing in the 1972 Olympic Trials, dashing hopes for an Olympic Medal. He was also a star on Drake’s basketball team.
The Bulldog football program fielded several strong teams, even beating powerhouses like Louisville on occasion. Drake played in the 1969 Pecan Bowl, losing to Arkansas State 29-21 in a hard-fought contest.
During Eastman’s four years at Drake, there were six players drafted by the National Football League (including Duane Miller) as well as a number of Drake players drafted by the Canadian Football League. Six Bulldog basketball players played in either the National Basketball Association, American Basketball Association, or both.
In 1969, Drake’s basketball team made it to the Final Four at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Eastman and a number of Drake friends including Duane and Donna Miller, Terry and Carol Treiweiler, Bob Rogers, and Mardi Leibl waited in line overnight in Drake’s fieldhouse in order to procure tickets for the tournament. Drake lost 85-82 in a heartstopper against a powerhouse UCLA team led by Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). In the consolation game at the Final Four, Drake beat a North Carolina team led by Charlie Scott by over 20 points.
A number of Drake players from that team went on to play professional basketball in the NBA and the ABA. Drake’s Willie McCarter was selected as a first-team All-American and was drafted in the first round of the 1969 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. Willie Wise became a legend, playing for a number of teams in the ABA. Other Drake teammates, Al Williams, and Gary Zeller had brief careers in the NBA and ABA.
Drake’s wrestling team, coached by Lonnie Timmerman, reached national prominence with a 17-1 record and two team championships in the Sun Bowl Tournament and the Notre Dame Invitational.
Intramurals
Drake offered in extensive and highly-competitive intramural program for both men and women. Among the many sports were touch football, basketball, softball, track and field, tennis, wrestling, and volleyball. The teams represented fraternities, sororities, dorm and clubs.
In addition to competing on Drake’s track team his freshman year, over the next three years Eastman participated in a number of intramural teams including touch football, basketball, softball and track and field. Eastman and his friends competed for Sigma Phi Nothing and the FUBARs.