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Face of Northwestern College: Larry Korver’s legacy

todayJanuary 27, 2025

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ORANGE CITY, Iowa (KELO) — A good coach can leave quite an impression on their players.

They can teach them lessons that last a lifetime, which is exactly what former Northwestern College head football coach Larry ‘Bub’ Korver did during his tenure with the Red Raiders.

“If there’s any one person, he’s really probably the face of Northwestern,” current Northwestern head football coach Matt McCarty said.

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Korver was the head football coach at Northwestern College from 1967 to 1994.

“When I took the job, I promised that I would stay with it thick or thin,” Korver said.

His loyalty paid off.

During his time at Northwestern, Korver had a career record of 212-77-6 and won NAIA national championships in 1973 and 1983. He also recently found out that he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

“I think the impact that he’s had on our program and so many people’s lives, I think, speaks for itself, and I think that’s one of the reasons he deserved the recognition that he got,” McCarty said.

“When it first came out, it was hard for me to even process like how big it is. He’s on the same stage as Nick Saban. That was really big time to me,” Northwestern vice president for athletics Tony Hoops said.

Hoops was on the phone with Korver when he heard the good news.

“They sent a certified mail to him, and he opens the package, and the emotion in his voice when he was on the phone, hearing what was going on, it was truly special for me to be a part of that,” Hoops said.

Throughout his 28 years of coaching at Northwestern, Korver did not just focus on the fundamentals of the game.

“Someday, you’re going to get married, and you have to become a great husband and a father,” Korver said.

But if you ask Korver about his success, he’ll usually give the credit to someone else.

“I have to look at what put me here, and I have to say that the coaches that I had had a great influence on me,” Korver said.

Korver had that same influence on his athletes. Many of his former players are coaches now.

“I look at the reason that I got into coaching was the high school coaches that I had and the influence that they had on me. They were all people who played for Coach Korver at Northwestern. That impact is much bigger than just the people that he coached. The ripple effect has been pretty impressive,” McCarty said.

McCarty led the Red Raiders to a national championship in 2022. It was the school’s first football title since Korver’s championship in 1983. When the team returned to Orange City, Coach Korver was one of the first people to greet Coach McCarty.

“To get us back to that level, to win another national championship and for him to be able to welcome me back and to congratulate us on that was pretty special,” McCarty said.

His impact on Northwestern is still being felt today. There’s even two players on the team right now named Korver: Korver Demma and Korver Hupke.

“Your name is everything, and to continue on such a legendary name, I mean, the field is literally named Korver Field,” Demma said.

“My dad played here from 1991 to 1995, and Coach Korver was kind of like a second dad for my dad, and he would do a lot of things for us. Dad would always tell me stories about how they’d go play golf because he lives right next to a golf course and just stories like that and how inspirational that he was on my dad’s life,” Hupke said.

Now, even at 90 years old, Korver is still heavily involved with Northwestern football.

“He was at every single practice and every single game this year that I know of. We played 12 hours away and Butte, Montana, and he was there,” Demma said.

And his influence will be remembered for years to come.

“He’s given his heart and soul to this college, to this community,” Demma said.

Coach Korver is also a member of the Northwestern and NAIA halls of fame.

Written by: The Dam Rock Station

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