Gary Dolphin still can’t believe he has the job. 

The next “Voice of the Hawkeyes” was supposed to be either Jim Zabel, Ron Gonder, Bob Brooks, or even established national play-by-play voices Kevin Harlan and Wayne Larrivee. 

That was at least what Dolphin thought was going to happen when the Big Ten made the decision in the spring of 1996 to allow only one radio outlet to broadcast Iowa Hawkeye football and men’s basketball games. 

Zabel (WHO), Gonder (WMT), and Brooks (KCRG) were all Iowa radio icons by this point, but the Big Ten’s decision to send Iowa to one radio booth brought a major decision to light. Learfield could hire one of the three broadcasting legends, or start fresh. 

Not wanting to jeopardize their relationship with the three men, Iowa and Learfield decided to start fresh with a new play-by-play announcer to work alongside color analysts Ed Podolak and Bobby Hansen for football and basketball broadcasts, respectively. 

Hundreds of people applied for the coveted position, but one name was notably omitted from the applications – Dolphin. 

Dolphin had previous connections to Iowa through his work with Northwestern and previously as a longtime sports radio and TV personality in Dubuque, and Learfield knew it. They called him up in the fall of 1996 to ask why he hadn’t applied for the job.

He told them that he was already happy with his roles as the play-by-play voice for Northwestern men’s basketball and as a TV production member for Chicago Bears home games, but also felt like Gonder, Zabel or Brooks would easily earn the job. 

But once Learfield told Dolphin they weren’t going in that direction, he immediately changed course. 

“My response was, ‘Well, then I'm in!’ So I sent them a couple tapes,” Dolphin said. 

The rest is history. Dolphin made the icy commute from Dubuque to Iowa City on Thanksgiving weekend for a two-hour interview, and three weeks later, he was hired as the new “Voice of the Hawkeyes.” 

“I remember saying at the press conference, I'm just there to fill the shoes of the legendary voices that have come before me, and then just running this chair for a few years, health permitting, and then somebody else will come along,” Dolphin recalled. 

Three decades later, Dolphin isn’t just filling the shoes of his predecessors – he’s become an Iowa Hawkeye icon himself. The 2026 college football season will mark Dolphin’s 30th behind the microphone as the enthusiastic voice of Iowa football. 

Thirty years is a long time to hold any job, but when you’ve held a position calling one of the most consistent college football programs in America for that long, you’re probably going to have plenty of memories. 

Dolphin can’t pinpoint his favorite season because the Hawkeyes have simply had too many excellent ones over the years, but he can create a shortlist. 

Near the top of the list is where it all began – his first game on Sept. 6, 1997. 

Iowa’s 66-0 victory over Northern Iowa didn’t make national headlines, but any Hawkeye fan tuning into Dolphin’s broadcast that day witnessed the berth of his signature call – “Touchdown Iowa!” 

Every broadcaster who has called a Hawkeye game on TV or radio has uttered the phrase, but Dolphin’s enthusiasm while he says it has garnered a lot of praise from Iowa fans. 

Dolphin didn’t even have to wait very long to use his signature line. On Iowa’s first play from scrimmage that day, star running back Tavian Banks found a gaping hole in the Panther defense and was gone. 

Dolphin’s description of the play was immaculate and even paid tribute to his day job in banking, which lasted from 1987-2019 at U.S. Bank in Dubuque. 

“When he crossed the goal line, I just yelled, ‘You can put it in the bank Tavion Banks! Touchdown Iowa! Touchdown Iowa!’” Dolphin recalled. 

“Touchdown Iowa!” was never intended to be Dolphin’s signature call, but his use of it in some of the Hawkeyes’ most notable moments has made it exactly that.  

Dolphin estimates that he’s uttered the phrase over 1,000 times over the course of his storied career. 

“Needless to say, I've had a lot of requests in 30 years to record a phone message saying ‘this is Gary Dolphin, the “Voice of the Hawkeyes”’ with “Touchdown Iowa!” at the end of it,” Dolphin said. “It’s all in good fun, but it’s grown on the fan base, which is now two going on three generations.” 

Dolphin’s first bowl game came at the end of the 1997 season, where Iowa capped a disappointing season with a 17-7 loss to Pat Tillman and Arizona State in the Sun Bowl. 

Dolphin still remembers watching Tillman, who later enlisted in the U.S. Army and was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire in 2004, do battle with legendary Hawkeye return man Tim Dwight on special teams. 

“I believe that that will be the lasting burning memory for me to start my career,” Dolphin said. 

Dolphin has called a total of 23 bowl games in his career, but another notable bowl game was the 2001 Alamo Bowl. 

There’s been other legendary bowl moments that have followed in the years since for  Dolphin and the Hawkeyes, such as the Orange Bowl win in 2009 and the dramatic 2005 Capital One Bowl victory, but 2001 laid the foundation for Iowa’s consistent success. 

As it turned out, the 1997 Sun Bowl would be Hayden Fry’s final bowl game as Iowa’s coach. Kirk Ferentz took over in 1999 and has held the post ever since, but reaching a bowl game by 2001 seemed unlikely. 

“It took Hayden Fry three years to get to the Rose Bowl. It took Kirk Ferentz three years to get to a bowl game, when they said it would take them five or six, because they felt the cupboard was so doggone bear,” Dolphin said. 

Not only did the Hawkeyes indeed reach bowl eligibility in 2001, they defeated Mike Leach and the favored Texas Tech Red Raiders, 19-16. 

“Mike Leach was at Texas Tech, and the Hawks won it in the final minute on [Nate] Kaeding field goal, and a Bob Sanders interception in the end zone on the ensuing possession. That's a great memory,” Dolphin said. 

Ferentz is entering his 28th season as Iowa’s head coach. Not surprisingly, Dolphin has formed a close relationship with Ferentz over the years, as he did as he did with Ferentz’s predecessor Fry. 

Few people have been able to get to know both coaches as well as Dolphin has. Dolphin is quick to note the personality differences between the two men – Fry’s animated demeanor was a stark contrast to Ferentz’s reserved personality – but most of all, he praised both coaches simply for their coaching ability. 

Dolphin credits Fry for introducing a more passing-oriented offense to the Big Ten, and also praised Ferentz for adapting to the modern game when he hired Tim Lester to be his offensive coordinator ahead of the 2024 season. 

“People need to understand how valuable and meaningful Kirk Ferentz has been to Iowa, not so much for football, certainly a lot for football, but for everything else that he does in the community,” Dolphin said. “He's the perfect fit for the University of Iowa.” 

There’s currently a running joke between Ferentz and Dolphin on which one will retire first. Ferentz will be 71 in August and has four seasons left on his contract, while Dolphin turns 75 next month. 

Dolphin anticipates Ferentz staying until his contract expires after the 2029 season, but for him, retirement is a year-to-year discussion. While Dolphin admitted Podolak’s retirement after the 2023 season was a “bump in the road,” he remains in good health and has the full endorsement to continue on from his broadcast partners. 

“As long as this crazy world of college athletics with its travel schedule with the Big Ten touching both coastlines [doesn’t get out of hand], I'll do it year to year, and then we'll make a decision at the end of each year,” Dolphin said. 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]