Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball phenom Caitlin Clark has received countless pieces of hardware during her playing days, especially over the past two years as she has taken college basketball by storm. But after passing LSU legend Pete Maravich on Sunday for the most points in NCAA Division I men's or women's basketball history, the sharpshooting guard was gifted something truly rare.
After Iowa's 93-83 win over Ohio State, Clark received a custom-made vest from Kristin Juszczyk, whose NFL-inspired designs went viral toward the end of the football season. Juszczyk, who is married to San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, hand-created pieces worn by Taylor Swift, Simone Biles and Taylor Lautner. The widespread enthusiasm over her work led to a licensing deal from the NFL, but this is the first time she has made an item celebrating a college, or female, athlete.
Clark's vest is complete with "22" decals (her jersey number), as well as stitching that says "NCAA women's scoring leader" and "all-time Iowa leader in: points, assists, 3PM, FGM."
"I wish I could add all her awards on there, but you would need 700 jackets to fit all that. Which is incredible," Juszczyk told Yahoo Sports. "It's a special piece and I hope she loves it."
State Farm, which has a name, image and likeness deal with Clark, approached Juszczyk with the concept, and Jake from State Farm, a character seen throughout the company's advertisements, made it to Sunday's game wearing a matching vest.
According to a social media post from Iowa, Clark appeared to be presented the vest by Jake following Iowa's 93-83 win over No. 2 Ohio State and senior day celebrations. Clark finished with 35 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in the contest.
"It's so special to me to be able to create, especially for a woman of her caliber," Juszczyk told Yahoo. "She's such a trailblazer in her league and it's special to be able to see her selling out these arenas and breaking all these records. ... What a great way to be able to show her how much her fans love her and to be able to just represent herself through a piece of clothing."
Clark, the reigning national player of the year, now has 3,685 career points, and in the past month set a slew of the college game's scoring records, further catapulting her into stardom ahead of her professional career beginning this summer in the WNBA.