Last night during the Iowa Corn Growers Association VIP reception at Kinnick Stadium, attendees had the special privilege to hear from former University of Iowa football player Lew Montgomery. Nearly 20 years ago, Waterloo, Iowa native Montgomery was on the 1991 Rose Bowl team, an experience he said he would never forget.

Montgomery is no stranger to farming. He grew up in Iowa and has always had much respect for farmers. “Being a native of Iowa, I can truly appreciate the value of each and every one of you as farmers and being part of this corn belt is tremendous.”

Attending Iowa as a student athlete was a great experience for Montgomery and he said that he chose Iowa for its quality education and long list of traditional values that they have. While he stressed that student athletes have always been challenged in the classroom, they are being even more so now because of the struggling economy. He also said that they are graduating from college and are having a hard time finding quality jobs. That is why is a strong proponent of getting people to come back to Iowa to work and live. He wants to, “grow our talent and keep our own talent.”

While most of us never had or never will have the opportunity to have the player experience, you can get some insight into what it is like in Montgomery’s remarks below.

You can see pictures from game day in the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day photo album.