Beaver tight end Jordan Travis relishes chance to share football, family success with his father

STORM LAKE – Buena Vista University tight end Jordan Travis took his place on Peterson Field prior to his final home game on Nov. 2.

A senior, Travis glanced at the home crowd as a list of his accomplishments bounce from the speakers across a sun-splashed J. Leslie Rollins Stadium:

• Three-year starter.

• 23 catches for 229 yards as a senior.

• 8 catches versus Loras as a junior.

• 61 career receptions for 668 yards and four TDs.

Travis smiled and blushed. He hugged then draped his left arm around his dad, Jim Travis, who dabbed a tear. The son, who towers in stature at 6-foot-6, forecast this poignant moment.

“I knew it’d be hard not to be a little emotional for my dad,” he said. “He gave me everything he could.”

Jim Travis adopted Jordan when the boy was 6 years old, the youngest of seven sons adopted by Jim, who, until one year ago, raised them all as a single father. Jim Travis wed Misty Powers in June 2018 and helps raise their daughters, Morgan and Matti. The couple will adopt a son, Eli, later this month, on Nov. 23, “National Adoption Day.”

“I was adopted by my parents in Iowa City,” Jim Travis said. “Maybe you can call it paying it forward, something like that.”

“My dad getting adopted changed his life,” Jordan Travis said. “He did the same for me and my brothers.”

Jordan Travis became a foster child at the age of 3. He was placed in several Des Moines homes over the next three years. He played at a day-care when Jim stopped for a visit in 2002.

“I remember talking to him at the daycare,” Jordan said. “And then, maybe a week later, my foster parents said I would go on an in-home visit to see if I might be a good fit for their family. I remember going to Newton and seeing the house for the first time. It’s like it happened yesterday; we watched ‘Snow Dogs,’ the Disney movie. I loved it there.”

Jim Travis took in Jordan, the foster child.

Eventually, he adopted Jordan and raised him with the young men and boys who became his brothers: John, Mike, Ray, Kenny, Sean, and Levi, all of them adopted by the U.S. Air Force veteran who worked for years with the Iowa Department of Corrections.

“My dad never missed a game of mine, growing up in Newton, or at Newton High School,” Jordan said. “Even as a freshman at BVU, when I traveled, but didn’t get to see time on the field, he traveled to all our games, home and away.”

Jordan Travis was an all-district tight end at Newton High.

He played basketball and reached the upper 80s with his fastball on the pitcher’s mound. He came to BVU as a freshman intent on playing football, his first love.

He enjoyed his best season on the field in his final campaign, catching 25 passes for 258 yards and one touchdown. During his career, he snared 64 passes for 721 yards and five TDs. Following Saturday’s finale at the University of Dubuque, the business management major slid his cleats to the side, but only temporarily as he’s been invited to play in the NCAA Division III Senior Classic in South Carolina.

And while the Beavers haven’t piled up the victories during his time on campus, Jordan Travis said they’re on the verge of turning the corner. With a different bounce of the ball here and there, he muses, this year’s team could easily have won five games, maybe six.

“I’m confident this program is moving in the right direction,” he said. “We have 41 freshmen and they got on board immediately and understood what we’re trying to do. They’re going to continue to change the culture in the right way here.”

Jim Travis agreed with the assessment and shares a measure of pride his son will have had something to do with the turnaround. Jordan, he said, has discovered there’s joy in hosting recruits and working with BVU football newcomers. It shows seconds after the home finale ends. The first player Jordan Travis grabbed for a picture following the Senior Day triumph is Yaphet Yokley Jr., a freshman from Lakeside, Calif.

“I love football,” he said, “but the people I’ve met and the friendships I’ve made have made a bigger impact on me than any football game could.”

He spoke about peer modeling and how Coach Grant Mollring and the BVU football coaches have put a program in place in which upperclassmen mentor younger players. For a giant of a player who grew up as the youngest of seven adopted boys, he’s relished his chance to be a big brother for the Beavers.

“I remember being a freshman,” he said. “I was homesick. Spending time and building relationships with the people at BVU made all the difference in the world for me. I’ve tried to do that for others.”

Jim Travis smiled and wiped a tear as his son takes the field. A visitor who learned of his story offered praise for a man who continues to give of his time and his love.

“People compliment me, but I didn’t work any magic,” he said. “I’m one person. I was given a good experience and a good adoption by my parents. Being able to pass that on to the boys by giving them the tools and the environment has been amazing.”

Jordan Travis, his father said, will soon spread his wings beyond BVU. The youngest and his most competitive, he said with a light laugh, will succeed.

“Wherever Jordan ends up, he’ll be fine,” he said.