When he was growing up in Eastern Iowa and attending North Cedar High School, all Ryan Kedley wanted to do was play basketball, and he was pretty good at it, earning first team All State honors as a senior.
But his father, Pat, a Hall of Fame basketball coach, would have none of it. Pat had a track background too, and he let young Ryan know that his starting, freshman point guard was not going to devote all of his time to one sport; that he would go out for track in the spring because, “You will regret it if you don’t”.
The basketball coach could see the potential in the future track star. Ryan had coaches during his high school career, Bill Bails and Tonee Martin, who were enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the sport, and were great influences on the future All American.
I asked Ryan if there was a particular race that stands out as the one that was really a game changer for him and his career.
His reply was: “I had taped a piece of paper in my high school locker at the beginning of my senior year of high school which said “47.5”. That was the mark Kim Sykes of Waterloo East had set years earlier. I had prioritized going low-47 and setting a state record in the 400-meters as the top goal of my senior year, and identified the Big East conference meet in Tipton, where my favorite track was, as the place to do it. The weather was perfect. The competition was perfect. And everything fell into place.
Turning my head, looking back after crossing the finish line and seeing that 47.04 on the scoreboard – was just a beautiful feeling I was so fortunate to have experienced. Setting that all- time state record, along with setting the state meet record of 47.43 a few weeks later at Drake Stadium, truly did change my life.
Ryan finished his career at North Cedar with three state titles, two in the 400 and one in the 200. He recorded a total of three top three finishes in the 400 and 2 top seven finishes in both the 200 and the 800. His high school career bests were even more impressive when you look at the quality of his range: 11.07 in the 100, 21.72 in the 200, 47.04 handheld and 47.43 FAT for the 400 and 1:56.83 in the 800. Not a bad list of PR’s for someone who only wanted to play basketball.
Ryan was a letter winner at Baylor before coming back home to UNI and earning school records, Missouri Valley Conference championships and Indoor and Outdoor All American honors on Panther 4×400 relays. When asked about his career at UNI Ryan mentioned teammates and fellow Iowans like Dirk Homewood, Cody Eichmeier and Terrance Reid and the Panther coaching staff of Chris Bucknam, Doug Case, and Travis Geopfert. “I stumbled onto a dream team of coaches. By the time I left the University of Northern Iowa, those three coaches maximized my abilities as an athlete and provided me with great lessons on professionalism and preparedness.”
Ryan’s family has been instrumental in his growth and success on and off of the track. His wife Kathleen and their young sons Lucas and Cormac, his parents, Pat and Peggy, his sister Kate, brother Daniel and his extended family have all had a hand in helping mold this young basketball prodigy into one of our states best ever quarter milers.
In closing, when I asked Ryan what are some memories that he holds dear; his love for life and his love for our great sport rang out with every word from this humble champion.
“As a kid, I was fascinated with my dad’s stories of competing at Drake Stadium and being a part of a state championship team. The further I get away from my time as a track athlete at North Cedar High School and at the University of Northern Iowa the more I realize it was those quiet moments that I think about and miss the most.”
Ryan graduated from UNI with a degree in Criminology and has spent the last nine years working as a Special Agent with the Iowa DCI.