Tamin Lipsey: Hometown Hero

Tamin Lipsey's journey from Iowa State fan to Cyclone basketball player is the dream of many hometown kids all over the country. Growing up in Ames as a Cyclone fan, Lipsey idolized Iowa State legends like Monté Morris and Georges Niang, imagining himself one day wearing the cardinal and gold. By his freshman year of high school, he had his first ISU offer in hand. Now entering his senior year at ISU, Lipsey has become a cornerstone of the program he grew up loving, embodying the grit, leadership and program loyalty that define Cyclone basketball under T.J. Otzelberger.

But Lipsey's story is so much more than his skills on the court. His demeanor off the court has allowed him to be even more loved and appreciated by Cyclone fans and the people surrounding him, making him one of the best stories in college sports.

"It means the world, it's what I dreamed of doing as a kid," Lipsey said, on what it means to him to play for ISU. "Going to games, growing up as a Cyclone fan my whole life, and watching great teams, the program has been in a great spot and I love basketball. I've always dreamed of staying home and playing for Iowa State, staying close to my family and continuing to represent Ames at the college level."

Despite Lipsey's love for Iowa State, he wanted to keep an open mind going into the recruiting process, and didn't always know for sure that he was going to be a Cyclone.

"I wanted to go to a place that was the best fit for me, and it worked out that it was Iowa State," Lipsey said. "But going into the recruiting process, I was visiting other schools and looking around to make sure that I made the right decision. When T.J. got the job, he called me a couple days after and just made sure that I knew he still wanted me here and sort of gave me another offer since he was the new head coach. I started connecting with him from there basically every week, so I could tell that it was a place that wanted me and he wanted me here."

But Lipsey's basketball journey started long before he started getting offers to play Division I college basketball. Lipsey's dad, Rob Lipsey, described how Tamin's talent was recognized at a young age.

"(Tamin's) always been involved in athletics going back to around kindergarten. Growing up with three sisters, there was always some type of competition around the house," Rob said. "In terms of basketball, there was an (All-Iowa Attack) tryout for kids going into third grade when Tamin was going into first grade, so he was a couple years younger than them. He tried out, made the team, and the coordinator of the program was going around and asked Tamin how old he was, and the guy couldn't believe Tamin's talent at that level – to be able to make 3-pointers from the regular 3-point line, make layups with both hands and kind of understood the game better than anyone else at that age. As a dad, you always think your kid is talented, but that was the first time someone else recognized he had a talent."

Fast forward to high school, Lipsey was immediately a star player for Ames High under head coach Vance Downs, leading the Little Cyclones to the state tournament his freshman year.

"I knew about Tamin when he was in first or second grade," Downs said. "I saw him in a church league game playing with older kids and he was dominating the floor. So, when he got to high school it was no surprise, if we could've started him in seventh grade we would've done that. The thing about Tamin is that he was always one step ahead on the chess board in most situations."

Unfortunately, Lipsey suffered a major setback that came in the form of a torn ACL the summer between his freshman and sophomore year, which caused him to miss an entire year of high school and AAU basketball. Despite this, he came back his junior year and once again helped Ames get to the state tournament. He then etched his name in history his senior season by logging a triple-double in the state championship game en route to leading the Little Cyclones to their first state title in over a decade.

"His skill set continued to improve," Downs said, on Lipsey's development in high school. "A thing a lot of people might not know about him is he's always been really quiet since he was young, and by the time he was a senior he really grew into a leadership role. He needed to do that because I know at Iowa State they press upon how much you need to be a vocal leader. But he grew leaps and bounds in that regard."

Around eight months following Ames' state championship, Lipsey suited up for his first career game as a Cyclone, officially turning the hometown kid's dream into reality.

"There were a lot of emotions – a lot of excitement, a lot of nerves, I don't think I scored even though I got a couple looks at it and missed a pretty open layup," Lipsey said, on his first career game. "So obviously, super nervous but excited to get the chance to play in Hilton for the first time. Just so many emotions and it was definitely a surreal moment."

It was a surreal moment for Lipsey's family as well, watching his first collegiate start in Hilton Coliseum.

"The whole family was in tears," Rob said. "We watched him get announced as a starter, and always in the back of our mind as parents, we thought he could play at this level. It was a proud moment for us to see his dream come true and be a Cyclone."

Lipsey averaged 7.3 points, 4.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game his freshman year, good enough to be named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2022-23. Lipsey took a big jump his sophomore year, averaging 12.4 points, 4.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game, improving in every category and landing him a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team. Lipsey battled numerous injuries during his junior year, including an injured shoulder, thumb and groin, but still managed to average over 10 points, three assists and two rebounds a game, along with passing Monté Morris for the school record in career steals.

"I think these years have flown by, already going into my senior year, I've grown so much in every area," Lipsey said. "I've just tried to improve my game every year – from freshman to sophomore year, I took a big jump in feeling comfortable and confident in my offensive ability, that was a big thing."

Lipsey's story goes far beyond the court. As good of a player as he is on the court, Lipsey may be an even better person off of it.

"Our motto in this program is 'how you do anything is how you do everything,' so that's on the court, in the classroom, whatever you're doing, just trying to do it at 100 percent," Lipsey said. "We always treat people with respect inside the program, so I truly believe that everyone who comes into this program leaves a better person."

Downs and ISU men's basketball sports information director, Ryan Workman, testified how much of a great person Lipsey is off the court.

"I can't say enough positive things about him," Downs said. "He's a polite, well-meaning kid in every way, a terrific student, very popular with his friends, strong in his faith; I could spill another 100 positive adjectives your way."

"He's that guy that represents everything that you want about your team," Workman said. "Everyone's kind of like 'oh he's that kind of guy you want your daughter to bring home and marry' or whatever. He's a very confident individual but he's not cocky in any way. He's a guy who's hard working, doesn't take anything for granted, just wants to do everything the right way."

A huge, and maybe somewhat unknown, reason for Lipsey's humility as one of the best college basketball players in the country is his strong Christian faith. If you watch right before tip-off of any Cyclone game, you can spot Lipsey doing a quick prayer when he's on the court, but it goes way beyond that, like attending ISU's Fellowship of Christian Athletes or SALT Company in the offseason, Lipsey's always looking for ways to grow in his faith.

"It's really the main part of my life, I wouldn't be anywhere without God's ability that he gave to me and the blessings that he's had on my life and those around me," Lipsey said. "I'm always trying to live my life for Christ – I don't play the game for fame or anything like that; I play for one audience, that's what I tell myself and that's what my mom has told me growing up. Going through ups and downs in life, I feel like I've always sort of been steady with God on my side. Even when times get rough, like (tearing) my ACL in high school, I couldn't play for a year basically and had to find something to do and just realized that God had a path for me and continues to shine a light on that."

Lipsey's skills on the court, combined with his humble personality and Christian faith off the court, is the reason he's so beloved within the Cyclone fan base as the hometown kid.

"I think he's embraced being the hometown kid, because he knows the community," Rob said. "He was there when Monté Morris would sign autographs and he would be in line to get his autograph. So, I think he embraced watching that, and then having the opportunity to do that, he's seen that as a privilege. In his mind, I think it's surreal for him, but he understands it because he had players from Iowa State that he looked up to."

"It's that story that everyone is still telling three years later, and they'll still talk about throughout his senior year," Workman said. "It's cool to be able to have that story to tell. Everybody always asks what kind of good stories we have, and you kind of just get to the point where we have this story but everyone's talked about it. But say if you're watching us play Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament, maybe Ole Miss people have never watched us play so that audience would be hearing about it for the first time. So, it's good to continue to talk about it even though us who have been around it have been telling this story forever."

"It's an inspiration for a great number of kids," Downs said. "We've got a number of kids in our youth camps and junior high and our high school kids now that are trying to pattern their game after him and aren't afraid to say that. Tamin's nice enough to come back every summer and periodically during the season to visit with our guys and it's much appreciated, and I think it continues to be a point of inspiration for a number of young people."

One year from now, Tamin Lipsey's career as a Cyclone will (likely) be over. Once his playing days are over, he plans on entering the realm of coaching or getting into sports media. But one thing's for certain – his legacy in Ames for what he did both on and off the court as an Iowa State Cyclone will live on forever.

"I want to be remembered as someone who made this program grow, someone who was a positive role model for kids growing up, things like that mean a lot to me, knowing you have eyes on you at all times," Lipsey said. "Just being a good player, but being a good person on top of that and hopefully be known as one of the greatest Cyclones ever."

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