A large red scar still appears on the upper left arm of Aaron Kampman, evidence of the violence Iowa football players see and feel in the trenches of a Big Ten football game.

“There was a guy who gave me some cheap shots,” said the Hawkeye defensive end. “I still have the claw marks in my arm from his finger nail.”

This specific badge of courage also speaks of Kampman’s philosophy and feelings toward those who leave him with such a mark.

While the natural tendency might be to retaliate in the same fashion, Kampman would rather not. The 6-foot-4, 282-pound senior did not even want to identify this dirty player or his team and would rather let his actions speak louder than words.

“What you do is line up again and tee off on them; not out of anger but keep your mouth shut and keep going,” Kampman said. “By the end of the game, they respect you. There is a certain amount of respect a person gets by not talking or letting his game speak for itself.”

Iowa is touting Kampman as an all-American candidate, based not only on his playing ability –– he has tallied 246 career tackles since becoming a starter in the middle of his true freshman season in 1998 –– but for his character that would make any den mother smile.

But don’t expect Kampman to show you any merit badges.

“You can’t win with all boy scouts,” Kampman said. “You need all kinds in this world. I’m definitely not a boy scout all the time, either.”

And considering Kampman has tasted success just seven times during his three-year Iowa career –– following a prep career that earned him three play-off seasons and consensus all-American honors as a senior at Aplington-Parkersburg High School –– he believes it is time for him to step up in even more of a leadership role. He believes there is right way to create a winning program.

“There is something about a program being classy, about doing things the right way,” Kampman said. “I’d rather not win a ball game next year and do it the right way than win the national championship the wrong way because I think there is something to integrity. It gets at the fundamental belief of how we do things at Iowa.”

Kampman’s character is one that was born Nov. 30, 1979 and nurtured by parents Bob and Dort Kampman in small-town Kesley, Iowa, which is about 40 miles west of Waterloo.

“Our folks taught us that what ever you do, you were created to bring glory to God,” said Aaron, the middle of three Kampman sons. (Andy, 24, is a youth minister in Iowa City, while Curt is a 16-year-old high school junior.)

A sense of competitiveness also was sired between the two older brothers, who battled to see who could tear the most shingles off houses during a summer-time job. That drive led them to start their own business while Aaron was in high school.

“We worked with some guys and we realized there was a lot more money dealing with your own business,” Aaron said. “We worked like dogs.”

“In this day and age when so many stray, Aaron’s head is on straight,” said Aaron’s wife, Linde. “His eyes are set on a specific goal.”

One of those aims was to marry Linde in the spring of 2000, five years after they first met when Aaron was a sophomore and Linde was a senior.

“Thank goodness he had his license,” laughed Linde, who works at John Deere in Davenport, making a weekday commute from Iowa City at 5:30 a.m.. Because of each other’s time commitments, they only see each other about two hours per day.

“She knew what it was like my freshman and sophomore seasons,” said Aaron, who took Linde on his college recruiting visits that came down to Iowa and Nebraska. “We had prepared for it but had never lived under the same roof. It tested us but by God’s grace we were able to pull through just fine.”

And if the young Kampmans can survive the past three football seasons –– which not only forced Aaron to adjust to losing but to a new head football coach in Kirk Ferentz and to a new position from linebacker after gaining fifty pounds to his frame since 1998 –– they should be able to handle any other problems.

Giving up his redshirt midway through his freshman season, he earned a starting spot in Week 10. But he was forced to say good-bye to retiring head coach Hayden Fry as well as Bob Elliott, the defensive coordinator who recruited Kampman and was dealing with a life-threatening blood ailment. One year later, Aaron had 103 tackles but had little to cheer about as Iowa lost 10 games, including a 49-3 trouncing by Michigan State.

The weight room helped Aaron get bigger but he also relied on something else to build him up psychological.

“For me, the spiritual realm encompasses everything, even the physical side,” Aaron said. “If I did not have an inner faith to keep me going, I would not have been able to do it.”

Finally in 2000, Aaron got more time to smile as the Hawkeyes won three Big Ten games, including upset wins over nationally-ranked Michigan State (16 tackles against the Spartans earned him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors) and Northwestern as well as a rare win at Penn State.

During this period, Kampman believed the Hawkeyes adapted to a change in leadership.

“It was two different styles of life,” Aaron said. “The year I spent with coach Elliott was great but I also wouldn’t trade the world for all the stuff that (defensive coordinator) Norm Parker does; his funny little sayings, his stories.”

Kampman said he first saw a change in the team’s attitude in a 13-7 loss to Wisconsin, one year after Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne and the Badgers ran over the Hawkeyes.

“It gets in the realm of our team developing confidence,” he said. “If there was a turning point in this program, it happened during the Wisconsin game. During my sophomore year, we got dominated up front with the big ol’ hefty guys pushing us around.

“(In 2000) if you watch the tape, the (Wisconsin offensive) line of scrimmage goes back. As a defense, we learned that we can play solid and start thinking about dominating people.”

Kampman, an elementary school education major, would like to take a shot at professional football, where he knows money makes the sport even more cut throat. But even on that level, Kampman does not plan on changing his philosophy. The same thing goes in turning around the Hawkeye football program this season.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that (winning) would give me the best feeling in the world but because of what I’ve learned spiritually and what I believe, I will be OK regardless of what happens.”

(Editor's Note: This story appears in the Voice of the Hawkeyes 2001 Football Yearbook that will arrive to VOTH subscribers by last week of July. To subscribe to Voice of the Hawkeyes, call 1-888-474-8669.)