From Bowbells, N.D. to the Big Ten: Iowa’s Jepsen Makes It Big

Basketball player Les Jepsen came to the University of Iowa as a project, which is a nice way of saying he wasn’t very good.

Five years later, the 7-foot center from Bowbells, N.D., is the Hawkeyes’ showpiece, a late blooming star who plays his heart out for a second-division Big Ten Conference team that needs every point, rebound and blocked shot he can provide.

After averaging 2.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in his first three seasons of college competition, Jepsen is leading Iowa in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, minutes played and floor burns.

He’s doing things few would have thought possible only a year ago, such as scoring the game-winning points in upsets of Michigan and Illinois or floating across the lane for a Wilt Chamberlain finger roll in a nationally televised game with North Carolina.

And he’s doing them in a crowd. Defenses constantly collapse on Jepsen inside because the Hawkeyes lack outside shooting. Many of his points have come after he emerged from a tangle of arms, hands and elbows to dunk the ball or bank it softly off the glass.

Jepsen, who redshirted his first year on campus, is taking his emergence in stride, saying it’s all a matter of getting a chance. Even though he started last season, there weren’t many opportunities to score and rebound because Roy Marble, B.J. Armstrong and Ed Horton were practically the whole show. All three since have taken their act to the NBA.

“It was evident in my mind that they were our primary looks on offense last year,” Jepsen said. “They were seniors and proven players. What I was doing wasn’t as evident.

“This year, my role is more evident. A lot of people are saying it’s from hard work, but I think I worked harder last year. Things are just coming easier for me this year.”

Jepsen has been a force since the first game of the season, when he scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a victory over Texas Southern. Those figures matched exactly his output during his entire freshman year.

Other big games followed--24 points and 17 rebounds against Ohio University, 20 points and 13 rebounds against Nevada Las Vegas and 21 points and 10 rebounds against Indiana.

Although his figures against North Carolina were modest by comparison--13 points and 10 rebounds--he dazzled the Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd by striding into the lane, soaring above everyone on the floor and rolling the ball gently off his fingertips into the basket. That move even caught Coach Dr. Tom Davis off guard.

“I’ve never seen him shoot that before,” Davis said at the time, “never even practice it.”

Jepsen’s most memorable games were against Michigan and Illinois, however. Against the Wolverines’ power tandem of Loy Vaught and Terry Mills, Jepsen scored 19 points, hauled down 16 rebounds and found himself on the spot with the game on the line.

He sank two free throws with six seconds left in overtime to put Iowa ahead, 78-76, then hustled back down the floor to get in Rumeal Robinson’s way as the Michigan guard missed a shot just before the buzzer.

Nine days later, Jepsen drove almost half the length of the floor for a layup with two seconds left to give Iowa a 69-67 victory over Illinois. He finished the game with 18 points and 17 rebounds.

Again, Jepsen said all he did was take advantage of his opportunities.

“Last year, I was maybe the fourth look in the offense,” he said. “If everybody else was covered, then they might look to me. You don’t usually go the big guy in those situations, but I just happened to get the ball. I was probably a little lucky. I took what was there and it worked out well.”

For the season, Jepsen is averaging 15 points and 10.2 rebounds and shooting 61.5 percent from the field. With all his new found notoriety, he still flings his 240-pound frame recklessly onto the floor for loose balls.

“The last time I saw a 7-footer dive for a loose ball like that, it was during the Calvin Coolidge administration,” Northwestern Coach Bill Foster said after Jepsen had burned the Wildcats--and his own knee--in a 24-point outing.

“The coaching staff has always stressed pursuit and going after the ball,” Jepsen said. “Sometimes you give the team a spark when you go down like that. It was just more evident to Coach Foster because big guys are stereotyped as not diving for loose balls.

“I just want to do things to help us win. If it means diving and getting a knee scraped, so be it.”

In addition to concluding his college career with a flourish, Jepsen has become a one-man chamber of commerce for Bowbells, a town of 587 hardy souls in northwestern North Dakota--halfway between Mosquito Butte and the Canadian border.

Television announcers mention his hometown, much to the delight of the patrons at the Tough Luck Lounge, which installed a $1,500 satellite dish to pick up the Iowa telecasts. Seven residents of Bowbells drove 18 hours, encountering a blizzard along the way, to attend the Illinois game.

“It’s good for the town,” said Jepsen, who has a degree in management information systems and is now taking graduate courses.

“Actually, I like to represent the whole state because a lot of times, our state has had some bad PR. But I’m just doing a small thing, really. I’m glad people are getting some gratification from it.”