From the archives: Hayden Fry helped George and Barbara Bush get their first apartment

Editor's note: This story by Register sports writer Randy Peterson first ran in 1999 when recently-retired Hawkeyes football coach Hayden Fry was stumping for Texas Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign. Former First Lady Barbara Bush died April 17, 2018 at age 92 and George H.W. Bush died Nov. 30, 2018. Fry died Dec. 17, 2019 at age 90.

Iowa City, Ia. — Hayden Fry is doing more than playing golf, making speeches and accepting awards during his first summer of retirement.

Iowa's former football coach is on the stump, supporting Texas Gov. George W. Bush's effort to win the Republican nomination for president. He is doing it as a favor for a longtime family friend.

"I'm great friends with his daddy, President George Bush, and his wife," Fry, a Texas native, said after a round of golf. "His daddy and I used to work in the oil fields together."

Fry, who retired after 20 seasons as Iowa's coach, was with George W. Bush during a recent Iowa campaign swing.

"Texans stick together, and in that respect, they're a lot like Iowans," Fry said. "I got President Bush and Barbara their first apartment. The parents of a girl I was dating back in Odessa (Texas) had a garage apartment they wanted to rent. George just got out of active duty and told me he and Barbara were looking for a place to live. I swung the deal for him."

Fry is not the only sports figure making the rounds for a presidential hopeful. New Los Angeles Lakers Coach Phil Jackson is supporting Democratic candidate Bill Bradley. They are former New York Knicks teammates.

Fry says he is not in it for the long haul.

"I feel obligated to help him through the straw poll in Ames (in August), then I'll ease myself out," Fry said. "I retired, but I really haven't had a lot of time to do things. I've made a number of appearances, I've had book signings and I've discovered that I'm the only guy in the world who can hook a putter.

"After the straw poll, I'm planning to shut it down and relax."

Editor's note: Two years after this interaction, Peterson — in College Station, Texas, for an Iowa State football game — ran into former President George Bush while both were on an early-morning jog. Here's what Peterson wrote in 2003.

It was the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning in October 2001 when I was running the Texas A&M campus streets, near the field where the Aggie marching band was rehearsing.

I passed by three guys and a dog, when the navy blue Drake T-shirt I was wearing caught the eye of one of the joggers.

"You from Iowa?" he asked as we stopped on a leafy, deserted sidewalk.

"Yes," I said, explaining that I was in town to cover the football game. "I'm a reporter for The Des Moines Register."

"You know Hayden Fry?" I was asked after we shook sweaty hands.

"You bet I know him, sir," I said. "I covered the Hawks his last season as the coach. Good guy. Everyone in the state of Iowa loves him. He's an icon."

"Next time you see him, tell him George and Barbara say hi," the man said. "He let us live in a room above his garage after we got married."

You say early-morning jogging is nuts?

This little jaunt enabled me to meet former President George Bush, whose presidential library sits near the A&M stadium.

MORE ON HAYDEN FRY:

From the archives: The day Hayden Fry nearly fired McCarney and Ferentz

From the vault: Hayden Fry’s first win as Hawkeyes coach comes against Cyclones

'HAYDENISMS': Legendary Hawkeyes coach Hayden Fry explains some of his most famous sayings

From the archives: The day Tavian Banks ran for 314 yards and into Hawkeyes record books