Rock Valley HS/Iowa State 2021 Hall of Fame
Oh, to be a state or Drake Relays champion, or to be named All State or Athlete of the Year or even a college All American. These are, seemingly, among every young Iowa athlete’s dreams.
In the late 1980’s, Rock Valley High School in Rock Valley, Iowa got to witness one of their own rewrite record books, win multiple Drake and State titles, win multiple All State honors in 4 sports, be named the Male Athlete of the meet at the Drake Relays, win Athlete of the Year honors from both the Sioux City Journal and Des Moines Register and earn Division 1 All American status.
For Track and Field fans in Iowa, getting to watch Darwin Vande Hoef excel on the track and in the field for 4 years at Rock Valley and 4 years at Iowa State created some special memories. Vande Hoef was a 6 time state champion winning the high jump 3 times, and took home gold in the High Jump, High Hurdles and 400 Hurdles in 1989. His winning 400 hurdle mark of 52.45 in 1989 was the state’s All Time best and now, 20 plus years later is still 13th. His High Jump PR of 7-2 from 1988 made him #1 in Track and Field News high school rankings and is equal number 2 All Time by an Iowa high schooler. He was a 4 time Drake Relays champion and was named the Relays Male Athlete of the Meet in 1989 after winning the High Jump, 110 Highs and the 400 lows. He is still the only high school boy to win 3 individual events, in the same year, at the Drake Relays, and doing so in front of 15,000 people left an everlasting mark on this student athlete from small town Iowa.
After graduating from Rock Valley, Darwin took his many talents to Ames where he continued to High Jump for the Cyclones, and groom his athletic ability into becoming an outstanding Combined Event performer. At Iowa State he was a Big 8 champion and All American in the High Jump, a Big 8 runner-up in the Decathlon and a member of 6 Big 8 championship winning teams.
After graduating from Iowa State, Vande Hoef spent the next 3 years competing in the Decathlon at a very high level. He won the Texas Relays in 1995 and was the Drake Relays runner-up in 1995, 96 and 97. In 1996 he was a member of the US Team that set what was the World Record for a team Decathlon score, while defeating Germany for the Decathlon Visa Cup. Individually Darwin placed fifth surpassing the milestone of 8,000 points with a lifetime best score of 8,123. After finishing 5th in the 1997 USA Championships, Darwin was once again selected to represent the USA versus Germany and once again he scored 8,123 to assist the Americans in winning another Visa Cup title.
Injuries kept this Iowa great out of competition in both 1998 and 1999 and in 2000 the decision was made to put away the spikes and the implements for good.
Darwin, his wife Kara and daughter now call Seal, California home. Where for the past 21 years, he has worked as a business consultant, supplying HR services to small and medium sized business in LA and Orange County.