Children’s hospital patients to pick ‘Hawkeye Wave’ songs

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A heartwarming tradition launched at Iowa home football games five years ago is getting another feel-good layer. The University of Iowa announced Wednesday that patients at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital will get to pick the songs that accompany the Hawkeye Wave, at which fans attending games at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium wave to patients at the adjacent hospital. The plan was announced two months after the university sought to have Hawkeye fans vote for the next song to accompany the Hawkeye Wave. The fans, in turn, suggested letting the kids pick. Now at every Iowa home game this year, the hospital’s Kid Captain — a Children’s Hospital patient who is is picked to be honored at each Iowa football game — will help select a new song to accompany the Hawkeye Wave.