The wave started as an idea from the team's fans, Levi Thompson, who runs an Iowa football fan page called Hawkeye Heaven, told HawkeyeNation.com.
Thompson said a woman emailed him asking him if he could try to use his page to do something cool for the hospital.
“I wanted it to be something the fans could accomplish without getting the University or any kind of money backing it," he said. "That’s when we thought about waving to the hospital after the end of the first quarter would be the perfect thing.”