Iowa Hawkeye Addison O’Grady visits Cambrex, Comet basketball players

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — University of Iowa starting post player Addison O’Grady has no intentions of continuing her basketball career after the conclusion of her current senior season.

“I have no desire to play in the WNBA,” said O’Grady, who leads the Hawkeyes in blocked shots and is averaging a career-high 13.2 points per game.

“Basketball has been a great part of my life, but I plan to move on to other things.”

That said, there is still a team out there willing to recruit her.

“I was just watching the Hawkeye women’s team on TV, and I saw from one of the graphics that Addison was a chemical engineering major,” said Becky Nixt-Bruner, finance director at Cambrex’s Charles City facility. “I contacted (human resources manager) Ron Collins about possibly inviting her down here for a visit.”

Through the wonders of Instagram, a connection was made and O’Grady — still on her holiday break in regards to scholastics — visited the company’s 45-acre campus on Tuesday before interacting with members of the Charles City girls basketball team in Comet Gym.

At Cambrex, O’Grady met and had lunch with company directors and managers, talked and signed autographs for several employees including members of Cambrex’s Human Relations Team, and was given a tour of the sprawling facility by Jimmy Aberg, associate director of process engineering.

Cambrex doesn’t give plant tours to everyone as substantial protocol needs to be honored before access is granted. But O’Grady seemed at home among surroundings, and hearing her talk shop with Aberg amid the state-of-the-art machinery that plays a part in manufacturing a wide range of active pharmaceutical ingredients and pharmaceutical intermediates, including highly potent molecules and controlled substances is enough to make a non-chemical engineering major’s head spin.

O’Grady is a rare bird being that she is an NCAA Division 1 athlete playing in a highly visible sport on a highly visible team while willing to take on a challenging major.

“Math and science were always my favorite subjects in school, and (chemical engineering) was something I wanted to pursue,” O’Grady said. “I talked to (former Iowa head coach) Lisa Bluder and Coach J (current Iowa HC Jan Jensen) about my goals, and they were supportive.”

O’Grady is from Aurora, Colorado where she helped Grandview High School win two state championships as well as a state runner-up placing.

She has a twin sister, though they are far from identical.

“For some reason, she is 5-foot-4,” O’Grady said of twin sister Jori. “She went straight to work after high school and is already raising a family. We’re complete opposites.”

O’Grady had plenty of suitors when it came to choosing a college. She eventually landed in Iowa City due to family ties to the state, the opportunity to play with budding phenom Caitlyn Clark, and to be tutored by then veteran assistant coach Jensen, who is known for her work with post players.

Needless to note, O’Grady has already procured lasting memories during her time at Iowa. A bevy of examples include defeating juggernaut South Carolina during the 2023 Final Four, getting some revenge in the following Elite Eight while eliminating defending champion LSU — O’Grady helped contain Hawkeye nemesis Angel Reese to 1-of-10 shooting from the field in the second half while physically extracting her from the paint, and playing in front of the largest audience for a women’s basketball game (55,646) during the “Crossover at Kinnick” home-game win over DePaul last season.

But when asked about her favorite memory, O’Grady said it was when the team traveled to Italy and Croatia.

While meeting with Comet players, O’Grady was petitioned for advice about being an efficient scorer in the post.

“You’ve got to do your work early,” O’Grady said of hustling down the court to establish a down-low position ahead of your opponent and making yourself available for an entry pass. “You’d like to go straight up with the ball without putting it on the floor. You want to keep the ball high and not lower it where the guards can get it.”

When O’Grady was asked about the differences of playing/practicing in college from that in high school, she replied, “In college, we don’t run as much.”

That’s when someone remarked to Charles City girls coach Luke Anderson, “You hear that, Luke?”