Robert Gallery joins rare company on Kinnick Wall of Honor, thanks in part to ‘good coaches, good teammates’

IOWA CITY — Robert Gallery stood on the steps of the Kinnick Stadium bleachers on Thursday afternoon at row 54 — coincidentally the same number his wife Becca wore on the Iowa women’s basketball team — as he posed for photos first individually and then with family.

Behind Gallery, his No. 78 was newly on display as part of Kinnick Stadium’s Wall of Honor.

The star left tackle is the only name on the Wall of Honor from his Hawkeye teams in the early 2000s at this point. Not Bob Sanders. Not Brad Banks. Not any of his fellow offensive linemen.

But for Gallery, his individual accomplishment — both the Kinnick Wall of Honor addition and the upcoming College Football Hall of Fame induction — is a reflection of those who played with him as well.

“The reality is those things don’t happen if you don’t have good teams, good coaches, good teammates,” Gallery said.

Along with the on-field success — an 11-win season in 2002 and 10-win season in 2003 — the talent around Gallery was evident from the perspective of NFL front offices. Gallery was one of six Iowa offensive players drafted in either the 2003 or 2004 NFL Draft, and all six were either linemen or tight ends.

Gallery did not have the same luxury of playing on “good teams” following his Iowa career after being the second overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.

The then-Oakland Raiders finished 5-11 or worse in six of Gallery’s seven seasons there. (His one season in Seattle, meanwhile, was on a 7-9 team.)

“Would I have liked to been in the playoffs and won the Super Bowl and done a bunch of other things that I had my sights set on? Absolutely,” Gallery said. “But the reality is I had five head coaches in seven years in Oakland.”

The instability Gallery witnessed at the NFL level is a reminder of why “it’s such a big thing to have Coach (Kirk) Ferentz around so long.”

“He’s never wavered,” Gallery said of Ferentz. “He is who he is. He’s been the same guy for 25 years. … He's a great human being on top of a legendary coach.”

The Kinnick Stadium Wall of Honor recognition precedes Gallery’s official induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in December. The National Football Foundation will hold an “on-campus salute” for Gallery during Saturday’s game against Michigan State. Gallery also is the Hawkeyes’ honorary captain.

“It’s pretty humbling to be going up in the stadium obviously with all those great names and to be going into the College Football Hall of Fame,” Gallery said.

The criteria for Kinnick’s Wall of Honor, which now has 11 former players, has a high standard.

Former players need to either be both a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and a consensus All-American or earn consensus All-America honors in multiple seasons.

Gallery, who started at left tackle from 2001-03, is the first player from the Ferentz era to receive a spot on the Wall of Honor.

The 10 other former players with their numbers mounted on the facade of the Kinnick press box are Duke Slater, Aubrey Devine, Gordon Locke, Nile Kinnick, Calvin Jones, Alex Karras, Randy Duncan, Chuck Long, Larry Station and Andre Tippett.

Gallery is one of four honorees who still are alive as a visual sign of his legacy now becomes immortalized.

“That’s something that will be up there when I’m far gone,” Gallery said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com