Cyclone John Quinn: Iowa Time Machine February 7, 1959

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On February 7, 1959, Iowa State Quarterback and longtime law enforcement officer John Quinn was born in Des Moines. Quinn's transformation from star quarterback to one of Iowa's most respected law enforcement leaders traces an unlikely arc that connects Friday night lights to homicide investigations.

Quinn grew up in a nomadic household, moving from Los Angeles to Detroit to New Jersey to Des Moines as his FBI agent father worked undercover assignments that sometimes kept him away for two years at a time. The family finally settled in Des Moines before Quinn's eighth-grade year, bringing him to Dowling Catholic High School. After high school, Quinn headed to Ames, where coaches Earl Bruce and Mack Brown shaped his understanding of leadership. Quinn became a team captain in the early 1980s and went 2-0 against Iowa, making him a hero in Ames. His performance against Missouri and Nebraska earned him front-page coverage in The Des Moines Register's Big Peach sports section. After college, the Denver Broncos offered Quinn a practice squad position, but he declined, finding the prospect uninspiring.

Quinn graduated from Iowa State in 1982, and by 1983, he had joined the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation as a Special Agent after completing the department's 11th Basic Academy. Quinn had originally hoped to follow his father into the FBI, but the bureau was in a hiring freeze. Instead, he found himself investigating Iowa's most heinous crimes, the cases local departments called in DCI to help solve. Quinn spent 31 years at DCI, 20 of them as lead homicide detective, investigating more than 100 murders. For 15 years, Quinn trained law enforcement officers statewide on interviewing and interrogation techniques, becoming one of the department's greatest resources in this specialized skill.

In 2008, Quinn was promoted to Director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, overseeing approximately 250 employees and a $30 million annual budget. He served in that capacity until January 2012. In early 2014, the City of Waukee selected Quinn as police chief, where he took charge of a department serving one of Iowa's fastest-growing communities. #Iowa #OTD #History #Football #LawEnforcement