Sara Bareilles thanks kid captain for choosing her song for first Iowa Wave of the season

One of the best traditions in college football returned on Saturday when the 70,000 fans at Kinnick Stadium turned to wave at the children at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the end of the first quarter. A portion of the hospital’s top floor overlooks the stadium.

This season, another tradition returned; the children’s hospital chose kid captains, and Eli Belser, 7, of Elkader, earned the honor for the Saturday game against South Dakota State at Kinnick Stadium.

On top of slapping fans’ hands as we entered the stadium, Belser chose the song that would play between quarters. He picked “Brave” by Sara Bareilles, the university tweeted.

Bareilles saw the tweet and responded: “I love this! Thank you, Eli!”

Doctors at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital diagnosed Belser with stage 4 neuroblastoma high risk, a cancer that develops from immature nerve cells typically in children, the children's hospital wrote on its website. He’s been in remission for two years after “several rounds of chemotherapy, surgery to remove tumors, stem cell harvest and transplants, and other treatments.”

The Iowa Wave started in 2017 after the new children’s hospital opened. Patients and their parents gather in the Press Box Café on the 10th floor of the hospital to watch the game through floor-to-ceiling windows.

More:Iowa nice: UI Children's Hospital 'wave' may be college football's coolest new tradition

The kid captain tradition started 13 years ago as a way for the hospital to partner with the Iowa Hawkeyes football team and celebrate inspirational stories.

The Hawkeyes defeated South Dakota State 7-3. 

More:Iowa football vs. South Dakota State recap: Hawkeyes survive low-scoring defensive battle

Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.