Nady family comes to Kinnick Stadium

FAIRFIELD — Joe Nady is a member of the Nady family that has deep roots in Jefferson County going back more than a century.

Nady owns a 300-acre farm south of Fairfield just off Glasgow Road that has been in his family for generations, and is in a select group of just 14 farms in the county that qualify as Heritage Farms, which have been in the same family for 150 years.

Joe lives in the little town of Genoa, Nevada, just south of Reno, but makes frequent trips back to Fairfield to check on the family farm. He’s in for quite a treat on Saturday because his trip to Iowa will coincide with getting to see his son coach on the sidelines at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

The University of Iowa Hawkeyes’ football team will host the University of Nevada — Reno, where Nady’s son Jeff works as the offensive line coach. Both Joe and Jeff attended the University of Nevada — Reno, and Jeff was a standout as a member of the football team.

According to his biography on nevadawolfpack.com, Jeff began starting his sophomore year as a lineman, and earned all-conference honors in his final two seasons, including being named team captain his senior year in 2012. His stellar college career allowed him to play in the National Football League, where he was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent. He also played for the Atlanta Falcons, and the Spokane Shock of the Arena Football League.

Joe said he’s looking forward to this weekend’s trip to Iowa because he’ll get to visit his extended family in the area, and watch his son work from the sidelines. Joe will be cheering on the Wolfpack, while his Iowa family will be loyal to the Hawks.

“There’s no dividing my Iowa family,” he said. “They’re all Hawkeyes and always will be.”

During his trip to Iowa, Joe will visit his mother’s three sisters, who were all born in Richland and who have remained in Southeast Iowa: Janet Klein in Mt. Pleasant, Katy Hutton in Fairfield and Lugene Krieger in Mount Union.

“One of them is 102, another is 99 and another is 93. They still live on their own, and they’re 100 percent fantastic,” Joe said. “They’re wonderful women.”

Joe’s father, Xavier Nady, lived almost all his life in Fairfield, and his mother, Wanda Hendrickson, was born and raised in Richland. Wanda passed away in 1993, and Xavier passed three years later.

“They were married 60 years, and were very well known in Fairfield,” Joe said.

According to findagrave.com, Xavier Nady graduated from Fairfield High School in 1935, and from Parsons College in 1940. In 1970, Xavier purchased the family farm, which was originally settled by his great-grandfather in 1858. According to the Las Vegas Sun, he helped with Fairfield’s youth baseball and basketball teams before moving to Las Vegas in his later years.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com