Filling Iowa’s food banks
Iowa State athletes give back through NIL deal with Pork Producers
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-Submitted photo
Iowa State University football players Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon have become well-known through their NIL (name, image, likeness) deal between ISU and the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

-Submitted photo
Iowa State University football players Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon have become well-known through their NIL (name, image, likeness) deal between ISU and the Iowa Pork Producers Association.
After a couple rounds of lively and hilarious tryouts by Iowa State athletes hoping to join the groundbreaking Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon NIL (name, image, likeness) deal between ISU and the Iowa Pork Producers Association, the IPPA has announced that it has signed a whopping 19 Cyclones to NIL deals.
This means that upwards of $35,000 worth of pork — the equivalent of 50,000 servings — will be donated to fight food insecurity in Iowa and eight other states through the NIL. Each athlete will have $1,000 donated to each participant’s food bank or food pantry of choice. The IPPA also will provide an additional $16,000 worth of pork to the Iowa Food Bank Association.
“The support of the Iowa Pork Producers through the Iowa State University Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon promotion is incredible,” said Linda Gorkow, executive director of the Iowa Food Bank Association. “In addition to the clever and fun involvement with the ISU athletes, it empowers the ISU players to donate greatly needed pork to their chosen food bank or pantry, and this program also heightens awareness of the importance of feeding people facing hunger.”
The athletes trying out for a spot in the legendary Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon campaign included more than a dozen members of the Iowa State Cyclones football team, which as of Oct. 14 was 6-0 and ranked ninth in the country, as well as four members of the Iowa State women’s basketball team, which is projected to finish second in the Big 12 conference this year.
A mashup of all the tryout videos can be viewed on YouTube as “Episode 9 — What’s the Deal with Pork?”
“We are thrilled to partner with these 19 exceptional student-athletes at Iowa State University to help us promote the pork industry,” said Matt Gent, a pig farmer from Wellman, Iowa, and president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. “‘Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon’ has been a very popular and successful initiative for us, and we’ve had a lot of fun seeing what new names we could try to fit into the promotion through our series of tryout videos. We’re thankful to all the Cyclones who participated, and to everyone who was inspired to purchase more ham, bacon and other pork products.”
Iowa Pork worked closely with the We Will Collective to organize the student-athletes’ participation in the video series and donated $10,000 for their assistance. The We Will Collective is a 501(c)(3) organization that supports Cyclone student-athletes and encourages them to contribute to the community.
“Our partnership with Iowa Pork has been an overwhelming success,” said Brent Blum, executive director of the We Will Collective. “It is truly a win-win for all involved, the Cyclone athletes, Iowa pork producers, local food banks in the state and the national exposure this has provided for such an important industry in our state.”
The final student-athlete to participate in a tryout video, Iowa State freshman walk-on Logan Bacon, earned a spot in the punny “Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon” promotion. The Lake Mills native showed up with a wheelbarrow full of bacon, and declared, “Because, you can never have too much bacon.” The judges quickly agreed. Logan Bacon is the younger brother of Cyclone junior linebacker and original Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon roster member Caleb Bacon.
Logan Bacon joins Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann, Caleb Bacon, Alec Cook and Zach Lovett in the promotion that launched last September and quickly went viral across social media, earned national media attention and was named the Best NIL Deal of 2023 by the Sports Business Journal.
“It’s been a crazy experience having people notice me from a pork promotion, and it’s been fun to be part of for sure,” said Myles Purchase, a senior defensive back for the Cyclone football team. “Being part of something people have enjoyed so much, and also being able to give back to our communities is something we care a lot about.”
Kevin Hall, communications director for the IPPA, said the idea for using the players’ last names on their jerseys to craft a fun yet motivating message was sparked during the Cyclones 2023 season opener.
“Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon were shown on the TV screen next to each other. An Iowa State fan took a picture and tweeted it out, tagging us, asking if we could work with these guys. We noticed it very quickly and immediately saw a great opportunity. I texted Joyce Hoppes, our consumer information director, saying, ‘We should do something with this.’ Her immediate reply was ‘YES!'”
So one and a half days later on a Monday morning at 8 a.m., Hall and Hoppes got the ball rolling on the clever promotion.
“We also looked down the football team’s roster to see if there was anyone else who would fit in and were fortunate enough to see Myles Purchase and Tyler Moore. So, not only did we have Hamann and Bacon, we had Purchase and Moore. Line them all up together, and it’s a perfect message to encourage consumers to buy pork products: Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon,” Hall said.
The IPPA already had engaged in an NIL deal with the ISU athletics department previously, so they reached out to the We Will Collective, Iowa State’s NIL organization, and worked with them to set up a photo shoot.
“I spent the entire weekend before that shoot cooking a large ham and about 14 pounds of bacon, and we lined them up behind the food for the photo that went viral immediately,” Hall said. “The players were excited about it and have been fantastic partners. They had a lot of fun with that initial photo shoot and got paid well for one hour of work ($1,000 each). None of the players were very well known at the time. They’re all well-known now and have had a lot of success on the field, too. The Iowa Pork Producers Association cannot say enough good things about Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon. They are fantastic young men, scholar athletes and have been great ambassadors for Iowa pig farmers, Iowa State University and the entire state of Iowa. We are so thankful for their partnership.”
Under the NIL agreement, the athletes are paid each time they work with the IPPA and $1,000 per athlete is donated to his or her food pantry or food bank of their choice.
“It’s important to have a charity aspect to this entire promotion. Iowa pig farmers care a lot about their communities, as do these athletes and they’ve each chosen a food pantry in their hometowns to help us fight food insecurity,” Hall said.
After the original four football players’ campaign debuted and the photo went viral, IPPA leaders knew they had something hot on their hands.
“Originally it was the four players: Purchase, Moore, Hamann and Bacon. After that original photo went viral and succeeded beyond our wildest expectations, we looked at other opportunities. Looking further down the football roster, we noticed Alec Cook and Zach Lovett. Well, what do you do after you Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon? You Cook it, and you Lovett. That was last year,” Hall said.
Wanting to build upon that success, the IPPA decided to create a sequel to last year’s promotion. Individuals had a blast suggesting names that could fit in the campaign. So the IPPA decided to have tryouts and the video of their antics has gone viral, too.
Adding to the campaign is a partnership with Hy-Vee.
“While we were thrilled with the popularity and attention Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon received in 2023, we needed to add a retail component to purchase pork products directly to consumers in stores. Hy-Vee has Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon displays up in 200 stores across the Midwest and giveaways of 10 Blackstone griddles, and 20 lucky people will win free bacon for a year. All you have to do is buy pork at any participating Hy-Vee store, scan your Hy-Vee PERKS card at checkout, and you’re entered to win,” Hall said.
The latest campaign featuring Cyclone student-athletes included new stars.
“We wanted to bring in athletes from other sports to enhance the whole campaign. The women’s basketball players made a lot of sense, given the rising popularity of the sport, and the great personalities on the Cyclone team. We again worked with the We Will Collective to organize the players’ participation and they were all fantastic in their roles,” Hall said. “The video where they showed up was a lot of fun to produce, and they all expressed a huge love of pork products, so it was perfect. Audi Crooks is a huge star already, Kelsey Joens grew up working in the family restaurant that specializes in pork tenderloins, Alisa Williams told us she eats bacon every day and Addy Brown was excited to participate in it. We would love to do more with them in the future.”
Crooks, a sophomore center from Algona, became the first freshman All-American in Iowa State women’s basketball history last year. This NIL partnership is not Crooks’ first experience with the Iowa Pork Producers Association though. She earned the IPPA Top Producer Award for Class 1A during the 2023 Iowa girls state basketball tournament. Crooks scored 49 points in the state championship game, leading Bishop Garrigan High School to the title.
“It’s so cool to kind of come full circle to win that award from the Iowa Pork Producers in high school, and now be a part of a partnership with Iowa Pork on the advertising side of it,” Crooks said.
“I love pork tenderloins, so I was really excited to be part of this partnership,” Joens added. “I grew up working in the family restaurant. I would clear tables, get drinks for customers, and eventually waited tables and served customers, so with my background, I was thrilled to be able to promote pork.”
Hall described the entire initiative as a “perfect storm.”
“To have those four names all on one team, at an ag school, in the No. 1 state in the nation for pork production … I don’t think it could’ve worked out any better. The big key for us was seeing the opportunity and seizing on it as quickly as we could,” he said.