Hlas column: A great redemption story could play itself out in Iowa

The Anthony Hubbard story is very good as it is, and has the potential to be fantastic.

Hubbard went from dropping out of a Virginia high school in the 10th grade, to spending almost four years in prison for a role in an armed robbery, to getting nudged by buddies toward playing junior college basketball, to getting scholarship offers from several major-college programs.

A few days ago, he signed with Iowa and will be a 26-year-old Hawkeye junior this fall.

The United States has more people in jail than any nation on the planet, one of the more depressing statistics you can cite. To hear of people who served significant prison time and weren't forever crushed by it is always uplifting.

There are more of those stories than we realize, but they aren't the norm.

Hubbard has now been out of prison nearly as long as he was in it. His story is a screenplay-in-waiting. He was the driver and lookout when he was with three other young men who broke into a house several years ago. He pleaded guilty, had three parole bids rejected during his sentence, and served his 47 months.

He came out to find nothing waiting for him. He got his high school diploma and worked a few odd jobs, but nothing was clicking for him until friends of his pushed him to try to play junior college basketball because the friends were taken with his skills. Keep in mind Hubbard never played high school or AAU ball.

Hubbard played a year at Odessa College in Texas, where he averaged six points a game. He transferred back closer to home at Frederick (Md.) Community College, and soared last season with averages of 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists for a team that went 24-7. A few months ago, college coaches began pouring into Frederick.

Hubbard visited Iowa the same weekend as prep recruit Cezar Guerrero of Bellflower, Calif. Guerrero seemed to enjoy receiving attention from media and in-the-know Hawkeye fans at the Purdue-Iowa game that day. Hubbard sat quietly, a few seats away from Guerrero. Virtually no one in Carver-Hawkeye Arena but Iowa's coaches knew who he was.

Guerrero chose Oklahoma State. Hubbard is now a Hawkeye, someone who had no worse than a 3.2 GPA at either Odessa or Frederick.

Now, at a Big Ten school, he can show people everywhere it's possible to prevail after prison. It's something we all want to believe, but relatively few of us know how difficult it is to make happen. Here's hoping Hubbard becomes everything he wants to become at Iowa, and here's a particularly good quote of his:

“I went to prison to where I am now and I want to give people hope, to keep them going to work hard and look at my story and see what happened.”

But before Iowa fans get too self-congratulatory for having an open-minded coach and school who are giving Hubbard this shot, they might want to ask themselves how they would have reacted had Hubbard signed with, say, Iowa State. They probably should lay off the jabs they may have ever given the Cyclones or any other team when it comes to the players they sign.

Fred Hoiberg has welcomed two transfers who got dismissed by Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo for violating team rules, and a former Minnesota player who pleaded guilty to charges of theft and disorderly conduct.

To hear some from the Hawkeye fan base tell it over the last year, Hoiberg has been running a rogue program. Just think if Hoiberg had signed Hubbard.

Most of that is just being a fan. Our guys are better and smarter and nobler, a lot of fans of all teams think. Our coaches know what's right. If they've won or are still in their honeymoon period, that is.

Had Hubbard chosen Nebraska over Iowa, he'd probably be viewed by Iowa fans as every bit a risk for the Cornhuskers as he was a gain. But since he's a Hawkeye? The sky's the limit.

The truth is, Hubbard probably wouldn't have been recruited by Iowa had the Hawkeyes been coming of a 20-11 season rather an 11-20. The three Big Ten teams who were among Hubbard's final four college choices were Iowa, Nebraska and Penn State. None will be preseason picks to finish in the top half of the conference next season.

Hubbard is coming to Iowa only because Fran McCaffery needs an immediate influx of talent to leave 11-20 in the rearview mirror. But the coach is no fool. He's probably taking less of a chance on Hubbard than he would on many recruits.

This player isn't someone fresh out of high school who has spent most of his life on someone's pedestal. This is a grown man who has lived a lot of life, and much of it has been painful.

You would think Hubbard would be as driven to succeed and live the right way as anyone on the Hawkeyes. His efforts of the last two years sure seem to support that.