PETE: Now more than ever, Emily Ryan deserves a spot in Hilton Coliseum’s star-studded rafters

Let’s pull off Iowa State’s football Highway to the Big 12 Title Game for a moment, to talk about Emily Ryan’s very public and ultra personal disclosure last week – in which she told us she’d been battling an eating disorder, while also starring for one of the best basketball teams in the country.

To balance college academics and high-level college athletics, while also doing what she did to battle her mental health – that takes an extra special person. Emily Ryan is extra special.

“The eating disorder was in control of my life, and I didn’t even realize it,” she said during her 15-minute, from-the-heart testimonial video. “I wasn’t able to eat enough to keep up with the demands of my sport, so my health continued to get worse.”

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE. 

Eventually, she spent 88 days in a Denver eating disorder clinic. New lease on life? In the truest since of the words.

Now, she’s back for a Super Senior year, still the glue that holds a young and talented team together.

“Although it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I was able to leave treatment with a new belief that my value as a person is greater than what I can do on a basketball court,” Ryan said during the video. “It took a long time, but I finally came to the understanding that being sick wasn’t my fault, and that eating disorders are real, complex illnesses.

“Eating disorders don’t discriminate, and no one is immune to them, although it’s not always something we can see. Mental health can be just as debilitating as a physical injury.”

She’s again the stabilizer, the coach on the floor, of a team that could be ranked in the nation’s Top Ten. It’s a loaded team that she leads, not as much by her scoring lots of points, but her ability to keep a team together.

“Some piece (of Ryan’s story) might be able to help in recovery -- being honest and transparent, not only with yourself, but also to the thousands of people who know you only through a video or a tweet,” a former Cyclones player and speaker on mental health issues, told me over the weekend.

That’d be Lyndsey Fennelly, who starred between 2003-07 on the Cyclones team her father-in-law coaches. Lyndsey shares her experiences with her own mental health to groups throughout the state. She knows the denial that can accompany mental health. Ryan is an intern at Lyndsey’s Elite 360 Training business.

“I like to call it the ripple effect,” Lyndsey told me. “You throw a stone in a big body of water, watch the first impact, then it continues to ripple.”

I wrote a couple times during my former professional life, that someday, Ryan deserves a place in Hilton Coliseum’s rafters – right along former Cyclones stars. Point guard on and off the court.

“When players from the Big 12 Conference tournament title team were defecting left and right, Ryan stood solid,” I wrote. “By golly, she was going to finish what she started.”

I’ll add right here that those players that left, were replaced by the best women’s recruiting class Iowa State had ever had. They should be part of a Top 10 team, when the pre-season rankings come out.

“I couldn’t imagine not being a Cyclone,” Ryan told me after playing in her first game following recovery from what then we called then a health-related issue. "Having an opportunity to play with this team is something I've been looking forward to for a while."

Last week, we found out what we’d suspected, via a video Ryan posted on social media.

"By sharing my story, I hope to build awareness and provide hope to everyone else fighting an invisible battle," Ryan said on the video. “As an athlete, I’ve dedicated my whole life to becoming the best basketball player I can be -- not just for myself, but for my teammates, coaches, family and community.”

A coach someday in her post-competitor life?

You better believe it. Coach Ryan has so much to give, not only about life on the court, but off it.