♪♪
Dowling Catholic's Caitlin Clark will be
talked about in Iowa for years to come.
♪♪
She has an ability with her ball handling I
think to pretty much get a shot whenever she wants
to.
Ranked 4th in ESPN's 2020 recruiting class, the six
foot senior is already well-known outside the
state.
Definitely right away you notice that she was just a
special talent on the floor.
♪♪
She sees the entire floor one step
ahead.
♪♪
And Caitlin uses that step to score --
To compete --
And if she has it her way, to win.
She showed that right here on the living room floor
playing Candyland.
She wanted to win.
She just has a drive in her that I do think is how
she is born and it's part of her core makeup.
♪♪
Caitlin Clark was born into an athletic
family.
Her father Brent played baseball and basketball at
Simpson College in Indianola.
And her older brother Blake plays football just
up the road in Ames.
There's a lot of boys that were in his class running
around here in the neighborhood, so if she
wanted to hang with the boys, so to speak, she had
to keep up and she had to do her part athletically
if she wanted to play.
And moving from the driveway, to the Dowling
gymnasium, was no stretch for the Clarks.
Well, her family has been part of Dowling for years.
Her mom's dad was my high school football coach here
at Dowling many years ago.
And Bob Nizzi always had a catchphrase, he said, play
with reckless abandon.
Well, his granddaughter, Caitlin Clark, is playing
with reckless abandon, but she has everything in
perspective.
I think it comes pretty natural to me.
When I was growing up it was kind of like, should I
shoot this?
Should I make this pass?
Just because your skill set is getting better and
better.
But for me I think it has just become so natural
that I don't even think about passes I make, shots
I take, it's just like part of my game and what I
do.
♪♪
Here, I honestly just think instinctively I
threw a behind the back pass to Grace and it
worked out well.
That girl came away and took away my right hand so
it just kind of happened and I knew Grace was in
the corner so I kind of just threw it.
I was like, all right, that's a good play, that
could probably go in the highlight film for next
game.
♪♪
Go ahead.
For us, Caitlin really can make our job as coaches
very easy.
We haven't had to put in a press break in four years.
She just can dribble through traffic, two
defenders, three defenders, she definitely
can create her own shot.
The step back, just offensively she can find
ways to get the ball where she wants it to go.
I always have said on our broadcasts, we're kind of
in Caitlin's world and we're all a part of it.
♪♪
(whistle blows)
And Caitlin's world keeps
expanding.
♪♪
A letter came in the spring of her freshman
year. Yes.
And it sat on the dining room table for a little
while because we just didn't get to it.
And then finally she opened it up and showed it
to us and we were like, oh my goodness.
Caitlin brought home two gold medals as part of the
U16 and U19 USA National Teams, representing her
country in Thailand and Argentina.
When they play the national anthem it's just
so cool looking up at the flag and hearing that and
knowing you're wearing a USA jersey.
I don't think there's anything better.
Back in West Des Moines, Caitlin led the state in
scoring twice, averaging more than 32 points per
game her junior and senior seasons.
She's well over 2,000 points.
That is a Dowling record.
Rebounds, over 500, that's a Dowling record.
Three-pointers made in the game, 13, and she scored
60 against Mason City a year ago.
In 2018, Caitlin rubbed elbows with NBA superstar
Kevin Durant after winning the Nike Nationals with
her AAU squad, the All-Iowa Attack.
In 2019, she was Iowa's Gatorade Player of the
Year.
And in 2020, Caitlin was named a McDonald's
All-American, one of only 24 players nationwide.
A lot of attention for a young person.
When you start getting letters I think from a
Notre Dame or a Duke or a UCLA or an Oregon, you
know, it makes you realize she's got a lot of
opportunity here and you're really going to
have to figure a way to control it too.
At home she is still Caitlin and --
♪♪
She just loves to play I think.
The accolades are wonderful and I think they
come with obviously someone who puts that sort
of time in and then is obviously blessed with
some God given talent and instinctive ability.
But I still think the sky is the limit for her.
I've been very impressed with how Caitlin and her
family has handled all of the recruiting.
Before her freshman year I remember getting a phone
call from an assistant coach of a Division I team
that was ranked top 5 pre-season, before her
freshman year.
And so it was one of those, wow, okay this is
the level that we're on.
It was hard for me just because I had so many
options that seemed so good, it was hard to
choose one from the other.
In the end, ESPN's 4th ranked national recruit
decided the best opportunity for her to
play her game was just two hours east on Interstate
80.
I always knew I wanted to play right away.
I thought that was really important.
I really got along well with their coaching staff
and I think they have really good players.
They'll make me better.
We'll have a chance to be really, really successful.
I've had a lot of people come just out of the
woodwork to say how happy they are that she chose to
stay in Iowa and kind of be one of them, you know,
and someone that they can follow easily.
It's a special thing.
We're fortunate that they're close to home and
we're in a place where we can travel and see and
still be a part of it.
I think that's part of it is letting go, it's hers
and it always has been hers.
I think this next step is just another piece.
♪♪
Seeing how Iowa supports girls basketball,
it's not like that everywhere else.
So I think that was really important for me because
who doesn't like playing in front of a lot of fans?
I love that.
♪♪
I think at Iowa I'll have a good chance to
do something special.
♪♪