Sunday afternoon at the Knapp Center in Des Moines was full of buzz and excitement as the Drake Bulldogs, who have been a perennial top-tier team in the Missouri Valley Conference for the past decade, hosted in-state foe and 4th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, the highest ranked foe to ever visit the Knapp Center.
It was a game that had it all, one of the best and most transcendent players women’s college basketball has seen in the past decade in Caitlin Clark, a possible All-American in Monika Czinano, Megan Meyer of Drake facing her former team, Lisa Bluder and Jan Jensen facing their former school, a sellout crowd and so many other intertwined storylines. But the most emotional and meaningful storyline was the honoring of a woman who impacted so many who were involved in Sunday’s game.
Lisa Brinkmeyer was first introduced to the women’s basketball community in the state of Iowa as a star forward at Hubbard-Radcliffe High School (now part of South Hardin CSD). Brinkmeyer led the Rebels to a 1993 state championship in the final year of 6-on-6 basketball, defeating Harris-Lake Park, West Central, AHST and Atlantic en route to the title.
From there, Brinkmeyer was recruited to play for the Drake Bulldogs, who was then-coached by Lisa Bluder, top Iowa-assistant Jan Jensen and Jenni Fitzgerald, who is a special assistant to Bluder at Iowa. Brinkmeyer would be apart of a Missouri Valley Championship team as a player in 1995-96, before joining the coaching staff after her playing days concluded.
“I recruited her out of high school, she played here for 5 years and hired her to be an assistant coach here, and I tried to get her to come over to Iowa with me, but she was Drake all the way through and wasn’t gonna come over there with me,” said Bluder.
Drake head coach Allison Pohlman echoed how much Brinkmeyer loved Drake and the women’s basketball program.
“Just to honor somebody who is so in love and has so much pride in Drake University, I’ve heard her say numerous times that no matter what she’s always wearing blue, and I don’t want to go into too much detail” Pohlman said with a grin and chuckle. “I think it’s so honorable and I think it’s something that our women continue to watch her and see. We proudly wear these shirts because she is a trailblazer for Drake University and for Drake women’s basketball.”
The shirts, which read “Brink’s Bench” were sported by the both team’s coaching staffs and the entire Drake roster as well. The T-shirts are just one of many tributes that have been given to Brinkmeyer, who was diagnosed with brain cancer this past April, throughout the fall and into the winter. South Hamilton and Roland-Story honored Brinkmeyer prior to their annual meeting in volleyball back on October 4th. Webster City and Algona Bishop Garrigan honored Brinkmeyer prior to their volleyball match back on October 16th, and was also given an ovation during last month’s state volleyball tournament in Coralville.
Brinkmeyer eventually left coaching and has been an administrator for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, where she has continued to push forward the growth and popularity of women’s sports in the state of Iowa. Lisa Bluder says that attitude is why everyone has wanted to honor her.
“The reason everybody wants to honor her and respect her is because she gave so much to everybody else,” Bluder said with some emotion in her tone. “She invested in people, and she’s the glue that held our Drake teams together, honestly. She’s the person that always organized the team’s reunion’s, she’s the kid that remembered everybody’s birthday’s, she’s just an unbelievable human being.”
Allison Pohlman says the pride in supporting Brinkmeyer in her fight against cancer, comes in her pride for Drake University.
“We all have a lot of pride in being able to support her in her fight. She’s a real, true-blue Drake Bulldog.”
The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes would survive an upset bid from Drake in overtime, by a score of 92-86. Monika Czinano finished with 36 points, while Caitlin Clark scored 28. Katie Dinnebier led Drake with 24 points, as all 5 Drake starters scored in double figures.