A State Fair butter trinity: Clark, Trice, Warner

Three Iowa college athletes are sculpted in the John Deere Agriculture Building

Well, butter me up.

Jack Trice’s sculpture stands outside the football stadium named for him in Ames. Kurt Warner has his bust in bronze at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And Caitlin Clark may be the most-viewed Iowa college female athlete of all time on the Internet.

All three athletes now share a bond in butter. They were sculpted — alongside the famous Butter Cow — at the Iowa State Fair this year.

The exhibit at the John Deere Agriculture Building ends Sunday.

Until the cows come home, I suppose.

Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark was sculpted in butter at this year’s Iowa State Fair. (Photo by John Naughton.)

As a Fair fanatic (and sports reporter), it’s a treat. I lined up Friday to see the butter sculptures and felt a mix of Iowa pride and amazement at the craftsmanship involved.

And you thought corn dogs were the only way to my heart.

The first Butter Cow appeared in 1911, according to a press release from the State Fair.

Over the past decades, figures like Garth Brooks and Harry Potter have been memorialized in margarine (I couldn’t resist, if you pardon me).

Iowa State football player Jack Trice was cast in butter at the Iowa State Fair. (Photo by John Naughton.)

Sculptor Sarah Pratt (along with two daughters who are serving as apprentices) completed the project for all to see.

The concept of selecting an athlete from all three of the state’s public universities offered strong choices: