Des MOINES REGISTER All-TIme SELECTIONS

In 2018, the Des Moines Register published the following article:

Let's talk football. And we're kicking off this conversation with a compelling proposition sure to stir things up:  "What Iowa high school football team is the greatest in state history?"  Try answering that while sipping your coffee at the local store or Starbucks.

n  the Register's "best of the preps" tradition, we're breaking down our selections by providing our picks for the top 50 teams since Iowans  starting playing in 1890 or so.   But, you ask, how can we possibly compare modern-day teams with historic  squads from nearly a century ago? Today's highly trained athletes vs.  guys who didn't even have helmets or face masks?

 But we're not engaging in a head-to-helmet comparison here. We're  honoring Iowa's great high school football legacy by recognizing the  teams that we think were the most dominant and are the most deserving.  There are teams ranging from the 1920s to just last season.  

In February 2014, the Des Moines Register published the following:

 For 100 years, The Des Moines Sunday Register's sportswriters have had their say for an all-state football team. The Register asked readers to select their own all-century squad.  Today, we run an All-Century unit — one selected with the help of an expert panel and a companion team chosen by readers. 

The story under Plut Myers' byline stated the case for the first all-state football team compiled by an Iowa newspaper.

"Since  all of Iowa's high school (stars) of the first magnitude cannot be  limited to a single eleven this year, three honorary mythical teams have been picked by The Register and Leader. The foregoing selections are the result of a compilation of opinions expressed by coaches, officials, newspaper men and other football critics since the close of the  season."

An expert panel was assembled to compile an all-time team. The group was composed of coaches Jerry Staton of Albia, Ken Winkler of West Marshall of State Center and Keith Hanks of Des Moines North; former coach Chuck Bredlow; sportswriters Chuck Schoffner  and John Naughton; and Bruce Clement, a longtime scout and football  observer. The panel discussed athletes from every generation since the all-state team began.

The Register's All-Century team included Heisman Trophy winners Jay Berwanger of Dubuque and Nile Kinnick, who attended Adel High School before moving to Omaha for his senior year.  Many of the choices were athletes who went on to play in college and the  NFL. Some did not, and that was not a requirement for the selections.

Two of the state's best-known underdog stories involve athletes who were not Elite all-state selections or high-profile recruits: Kurt Warner of  Cedar Rapids Regis (1988) and Dallas Clark of Twin River Valley of Bode  (1997). Both went on to NFL fame. The expert  panel offered a sense of history to the All-Century Team. Two of the coaches completed their 46th seasons this fall. Both sportswriters have seen decades of state playoffs and observed and interviewed hundreds of  all-state players.