Recent NFL and NBA Draft Picks Have Roots Back to Small Iowa Town 10/5/2019 - The fathers of two recent professional draft picks are former Iowa football players under Hayden Fry, but the connection between their mothers is an even more amazing. In the 2019 NBA Draft, Jaxon Hayes was selected as the 8th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks (then traded to the New Orleans Pelicans). He is the son of former Iowa Tight End Jonathan Hayes, who played from 1982-1984 (Watch videos from 1982, 1982, or 1984 seasons). He later was drafted in the 2nd round of the NFL by the Kansas City Chiefs, coached in the NFL and was coaching in the new XFL league in St. Louis. Jaxson's mother is Kristi (Kinne) Hayes, a former Drake University basketball star from 1991-95, and earned honorable mention Kodak All-American accolades and Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors as a senior. In the 2019 NFL Draft, Trey Pipkins was an unknown lineman from University of Sioux Falls (Division II), but was drafted in the 3rd round by the Los Angeles Chargers and made the final roster. He is the son of former Iowa player James Pipkins, who lettered for the Hawks in 1987 and 1988. Trey's mother is Trisha (Waugh) Pipkins, a former University of Iowa basketball star from 1988-91, was a two-time academic All-Big Ten selection and CoSIDA District Seven academic all-American. Both Kinne and Waugh played together at Jefferson-Scranton High School, where they were part a dominating small school six-on-six girls' basketball stretch run from November 1987 through March 1988. The Jeffettes won 26 games, tallied a 20-game win streak, went undefeated in conference play for the school's first Midwest Conference title, and averaged 81 points per game. They placed third in the entire state, reached as high as No. 2 in the Des Moines Register rankings, broke 10 school records, and lost just once in the regular season. They also produced three Division I athletes, Kinne, Waugh, and Cathy (Proctor) Krieger, who attended Kentucky. The chance of two small town Iowa women who played six-on-six basketball together raising two professional draft picks is a wonderful story. This would be a great story for a larger newspaper.