Nile Kinnick

Nile Clarke Kinnick, Jr. (born July 9, 1918 in Adel, Iowa; died June 2, 1943) was a college football player at the University of Iowa. He won the 1939 Heisman Trophy, and the university renamed their football stadium Kinnick Stadium in his honor.

Background

Nile Kinnick, Jr. was the son of Nile Kinnick, Sr. and Francis Clarke. He had two younger brothers, Ben and George. Nile's maternal grandmother was a distant relative of Nathaniel Greene, a Revolutionary War general. His maternal grandfather, George Washington Clarke, graduated from the University of Iowa in 1878 and served two two-year terms as governor of Iowa from 1912 to 1916.

Nile's parents were devoted to the teaching of Christian Science and helped Nile develop values of discipline, hard work, and strong morals. Nile was constantly thinking about self-improvement and working on turning personal weaknesses into strengths. He was very intelligent and mature at a young age and spoke and wrote formally, yet he was never condescending and was humble, almost shy, about his abilities.

Kinnick began showing athletic aptitude at a young age as well. As a youth, he played on a Junior Legion baseball team with Bob Feller. He was a star on successful football and basketball teams in junior high school.

As a sophomore at Adel High School, Kinnick led the football team to an undefeated season and then scored 485 points for the basketball team, leading them to the district finals. After his junior year of high school, the Kinnick family moved when Nile Sr. took a job in Omaha, Nebraska. Nile was a first team all-state selection in both football and basketball as a senior, as he starred for one year with his brother Ben at Benson High School in Omaha. He led Benson to a third place finish in the state basketball tournament and to the city baseball championship.

College Career

Undergraduate Years

Kinnick had always been an excellent student as well as an athletic leader, and he could have graduated in 1935, but his parents held him back a year to become thoroughly prepared for the university. He considered Minnesota - how seriously is not clear - but he chose the University of Iowa. Iowa's football struggles might have attracted him. Verle Davis, Kinnick's football coach at Adel, recalled that "Kinnick was determined to go to some school that was down...He didn't want to go to Minnesota, because they were on top...He finally went to Iowa as he figured they were at their lowest ebb." The account is persuasive, because it was typical of Kinnick. To start from nothing and test himself against his own weakness as well as outside resistance were challenges Kinnick always pursued if they were available.

He was recruited to Iowa by Coach Ossie Solem in 1936. Kinnick was named the co-captain of the freshman team and scored two touchdowns (one running and one passing) in a close loss in a scrimmage against the varsity team. He also played baseball and basketball his freshman year.

After the 1936 season, Solem left Iowa to go to Syracuse University, and Iowa hired Irl Tubbs to replace him. As a sophomore, Kinnick was terrific, but the Hawkeyes just could not win. Iowa battled Washington, the eventual Pacific Coast champions, to the wire in a 14-0 defeat and then scored an early victory over Bradley. It was Iowa's only win of the year. But opponents raved about Kinnick. After scoring Iowa's only touchdown in a 13-6 loss to Wisconsin, Solem wrote sports editor Sec Taylor from Syracuse, "I was sure that Kinnick was destined to be the greatest back in all Iowa history, and I am more convinced than ever that he will be."

Iowa lost all five Big Ten games in 1937. The most heartbreaking loss was a 7-6 defeat at the hands of Michigan, despite Kinnick's 74 yard punt return for a touchdown. Sportswriter Bert McGrane wrote, "I can't recall a single break that favored Iowa...You'd think Iowa would win the toss by accident once in a while." Iowa had not won the coin toss in 13 games. Minnesota coach Bernie Bierman called Kinnick "one of the finest young backs I have ever seen." Kinnick, the lone bright spot of the 1937 season, led the nation in punting and was named first team All-Big Ten and a third team All-American.

Kinnick played basketball, too, and he was Iowa's second leading scorer and the 15th leading scorer in the Big Ten his sophomore year in 1937-38. After a brief stint in baseball that summer, Nile dropped the third sport. In 1938, he hurt his ankle in preseason football practice and was not at full strength for his entire junior year. Kinnick played through the pain, but it hampered his effectiveness. His Christian Science beliefs limited the amount of medical assistance that Kinnick allowed himself to receive from the team doctors, believing that his pain could be overcome by faith.

Kinnick was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection his junior year in 1938. He also declared that he would not participate in basketball in the upcoming year, citing personal concerns over his school work. After a 1-6-1 season, Irl Tubbs was fired at Iowa, and the doctor, Eddie Anderson, was in.

The 1939 Season

Before the 1939 season, Kinnick wrote, "For three years, nay for fifteen years, I have been preparing for this last year of football. I anticipate becoming the roughest, toughest all-around back yet to hit this conference." He also wrote, "I'm looking forward to showing Anderson what a real football player looks like - so hold your hats."

Coach Anderson liked Kinnick immediately. He referred to all of his players by their last names, except Kinnick, who was always "Nile". Anderson favored student-athletes, because he felt that scholars made better players over the long run. He believed the 1939 team could be a good one, but only if the starters played significant minutes. Before the first game, the Des Moines Register had a small note stating that "a set of iron men may be developed to play football for Iowa." The 1939 Hawkeyes, nicknamed the "Ironmen", would become one of the greatest teams in school history. Many of Anderson's players played complete games during that season for the Hawkeyes.

In the first game against South Dakota, Kinnick led Iowa to a 41-0 win, scoring five touchdowns (three running, two passing) and kicking five extra points. His 23 points were the most by an Iowa player since 1928. The next week, Iowa was set to play a game against Indiana. The Indianapolis News reported that the Hoosiers had "a quiet confidence that they will win it. Of course, Iowa feels the same, maybe more so. And Indiana doesn't have a Kinnick."

Iowa won its first conference home game since 1933 by defeating Indiana, 32-29. Kinnick returned nine punts for 201 yards, both school records which still stand today. He had 103 yards rushing and one touchdown, 108 yards passing and three touchdowns, 201 punt return yards, 171 kick return yards, 4 punts for 172 yards, an interception return for 20 yards, and two extra point kicks. His third and final touchdown pass came as Iowa trailed, 29-26, with just minutes remaining. It was fourth and goal at Indiana's 20 yard line. A field goal would tie the game, but Kinnick said, "Forget the tie. We're going all the way!" He then completed the game-winning touchdown pass to Erwin Prasse.

After a 27-7 loss to Michigan, Iowa came from behind twice on three Kinnick touchdown passes to beat Wisconsin, 19-13. Wisconsin coach Harry Stuhldreher said, "Kinnick is one of the finest all-around backs I've seen in a long time. You find a player like him once in a generation. Usually when you find a great football player, he is great because he has one exceptional talent. Kinnick is exceptional at everything."

The Hawkeyes then held Purdue to 75 total yards and won a defensive struggle by the odd score of 4-0. The 4-1 Hawkeyes, picked at the bottom of the league standings, were outlasting teams with far more players at their disposal. Iowa returned to Iowa City to play Notre Dame, ranked third in the nation by the Associated Press (AP). The Irish owned a six game winning streak and were everyone's pick for the national championship. The Notre Dame game would stand as one of Kinnick's signature performances, and the fact that it was played on Armistice Day, now known as Veterans' Day, would become a tragic irony for Kinnick.

Iowa defeated Notre Dame, 7-6. Kinnick scored the Iowa touchdown and kicked the game-winning extra point. Kinnick, who played left halfback all year, was switched to right halfback on the winning play. The switch confused the Notre Dame defense enough for Kinnick to cross the goal line on a three yard run. He also kicked 16 punts for 731 yards in the defensive struggle, both school records which still stand today. With just a minute remaining and under a heavy punt rush by the Irish, Kinnick's weary leg boomed a 63 yard punt, his longest of the year, that rolled out of bounds at the six yard line, sealing the game. Many still consider it the greatest clutch punt in college football history.

Kinnick's final home game was Homecoming against powerful Minnesota. Trailing 9-0 after three quarters, Iowa again rallied to win via two touchdown passes by Kinnick. The swelling and numbness in his passing hand allowed him to throw only every other play so he could rest it on running plays. A touchdown pass to Prasse pulled Iowa within two points, and another touchdown pass, this time to Bill Green, with under two minutes to go sealed a 13-9 win. Iowa won the Floyd of Rosedale trophy for the first time, as Kinnick had played his sixth consecutive complete, sixty minute game. One Chicago paper wrote, "Nile Kinnick 13, Minnesota 9; tersely, that tells the story of the most spectacular football game in modern Big Ten history."

James Kearns of the Chicago Daily News wrote, "There's a golden helmet riding on a human sea across Iowa's football field in the twilight here. Now the helmet rises as wave upon wave of humanity pours onto the field. There's a boy under the helmet, which is shining like a crown on his head. A golden #24 gleams on his slumping, tired shoulders. The boy is Nile Clarke Kinnick, Jr., who has, just now, risen above all the defenses that could be raised against him...leading a frenzied little band of Iowa football players to a victory which was impossible. They couldn't win, but they did."

Iowa ended the season with a 7-7 tie at Northwestern after a separated shoulder finally forced Kinnick out of a game. The tie cost Iowa the 1939 Big Ten title, but Iowa still finished the year ranked ninth in the AP poll with a 6-1-1 record.

In 1939, Kinnick threw for 638 yards and 11 touchdowns on only 31 passes and ran for 374 yards. He was involved in 16 of the 19 touchdowns (11 passing, 5 rushing) that Iowa scored and was involved in 107 of the 130 points that Iowa scored that year. He played 402 of a possible 420 minutes that season. In his career, his 71 punts over three years were good for 2,834 total yards. Kinnick also set school records in interceptions in a season (eight) and a career (eighteen), records which still stand. All told, Kinnick set 14 school records, six of which still stand over 65 years later.

Heisman Trophy Speech

At the end of the season, Nile Kinnick won virtually every major award in the country. He was a consensus first team All-American, and he appeared on every first team ballot to become the only unanimous selection in the AP voting. He won the Big Ten MVP award by the largest margin in history. He also won the Walter Camp Award and the Maxwell Award. Nile Kinnick even won the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, beating out such notables as Joe DiMaggio, Byron Nelson, and Joe Louis. He was the first college football player to win that award. On November 28, 1939, Nile Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy, becoming the only Iowa Hawkeye to win college football's most prestigious award.

Kinnick's Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, made approximately one year before the United States entered World War II, is remembered as one of the most eloquent and moving ever given.

Read Nile Kinnick's Heisman Trophy speech here.

Bill Cunningham of the Boston Post wrote, "This country's okay as long as it produces Nile Kinnicks. The football part is incidental." AP reporter Whitney Martin wrote, "You realized the ovation (after his Heisman speech) wasn't alone for Nile Kinnick, the outstanding college football player of the year. It was also for Nile Kinnick, typifying everything admirable in American youth." Another observer said that Kinnick's remarks "tackled Demosthenes and threw Cicero for a 15-yard loss."

Life After 1939

Future Plans

Kinnick was elected student body president his senior year at Iowa. A member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Iowa, Kinnick also maintained a 3.4 grade point average. As he neared graduation with a degree in economics, he was one of thirty students selected to the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, and the university president informed him that he would graduate "with distinction", Iowa's equivalent to graduating cum laude. He gave the commencement speech for the University of Iowa's graduating class in 1940.

Read Nile Kinnick's Commencement Speech here.

Kinnick was the leading vote-getter in the nation for the College All-Star Game, while his coach, Eddie Anderson, was voted in to coach the team against Iowa alum Joe Laws and the NFL champion Green Bay Packers. The Packers defeated the College All-Stars, 45-28, in an entertaining game. Kinnick scored two touchdowns and kicked four extra points. It was noted that the All-Stars scored four touchdowns while Kinnick was in the game; when he sat on the bench, they mustered just one first down.

Kinnick rejected several lucrative offers to play professional football. He was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the team owner offered to pay him a $10,000 annual salary or on a game-by-game basis for $1,000 a game. Instead of going into professional football, he entered the University of Iowa law school. After one year of law school, Kinnick ranked third in his class academically.

He also had an interest in politics. Kinnick, himself the grandson of a governor, spoke before the Young Republicans and introduced 1940 presidential candidate Wendell Willkie at a campaign rally. Kinnick said, "When the members of any nation have come to regard their country as nothing more than the plot of ground on which they reside, and their government as a mere organization for providing police or contracting treaties; when they have ceased to entertain any warmer feelings for one another than those which interest or personal friendship or a mere general philanthropy may produce, the moral dissolution of that nation is at hand." The Marion Sentinel proposed in an article to endorse a presidential run for Kinnick in 1956, the first year in which he would be eligible.

While Kinnick took a year of law school in 1940, he also served as an assistant football coach for the Hawkeyes, aiding the freshman team and scouting upcoming opponents. He accompanied the team to South Bend to see Iowa upset the Irish for the second straight season. According to The Daily Iowan’s account, "Nile Kinnick, cool, calm, and collected while he’s on a football team, pranced up and down the dressing room almost jabbering in his excitement." He was also an assistant football coach at Iowa in 1941.

Naval Service

But Kinnick left law school after one year and enlisted in the Naval Air Reserve. He was called to active duty three days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He wrote, "There is no reason in the world why we shouldn't fight for the preservation of a chance to live freely, no reason why we shouldn't suffer to uphold that which we want to endure. May God give me the courage to do my duty and not falter." Later, he added, "Every man whom I've admired in history has willingly and courageously served in his country's armed forces in times of danger. It is not only a duty but an honor to follow their example the best I know how. May God give me the courage and ability to so conduct myself in every situation that my country, my family, and my friends will be proud of me."

Nile was able to return to Iowa one last time in 1942. He visited Adel and saw his father one final time. He then went to Iowa City and watched Iowa's football game against Washington University from the press box. When the Iowa crowd heard of Nile's presence, they began a loud "We want Kinnick!" chant until Kinnick leaned out of the press box with an appreciative wave.

Kinnick was training to be a fighter pilot. "The task which lies ahead is adventure as well as duty," Nile wrote his parents in late May 1943, "and I am anxious to get at it. I feel better in mind and body than I have for ten years and am quite certain I can meet the foe confident and unafraid. 'I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved.' Truly, we have shared to the full life, love, and laughter. Comforted in the knowledge that your thought and prayer go with us every minute, and sure that your faith and courage will never falter, no matter the outcome, I bid you au revoir."

Death

On June 2, 1943, Kinnick was on a routine training flight from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which was off the coast of Venezuela in the Gulf of Paria. Kinnick had been flying for over an hour when his plane developed an oil leak so serious that he could neither reach land or the USS Lexington, whose flight deck was in any case crowded with planes preparing for launch. Kinnick followed standard military procedure and executed an emergency landing in the water. Rescue boats arrived on the scene a mere eight minutes later, but they found only an oil slick. His body was never recovered. Nile Kinnick was 24 years old.

His commanding officer, Lt. Commander Paul Buie wrote, "Nile was an outstanding man in every respect. His calm and determined manner, his quick grin, his sound common sense, and his outstanding all-around abilities made him a wonderful asset to the squadron and a man that we were proud to call our friend. His loss was a terrible blow to all of us and a serious loss to the country he so ably served."

His law school classmate, John Evans, wrote, "The ways of the Lord must be many and some of them seem hard to understand. Perhaps He refuses to allow His special clay to engage in our bloody little game...Perhaps he was jerked in the first quarter because war just wasn't his field."

The president of the University of Iowa, Virgil Hancher, wrote, "His life until June 2 was as near perfection as anything I expect to see in my time here. The inspiration of his example has affected and will continue to affect his college generation. The tragedy of his death is that the qualities and abilities which he possessed will be so much needed in the years after the war."

Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge wrote, "Nile Kinnick will be remembered as long as there is an Iowa...He aspired to our profession and began the study of law...Then, just as he was well started, came his country's call to service...I have no doubt Kinnick would have written his name high in the law. There is no calculating what he might have done in and for the profession, or therefore, what it and the nation have lost by his sacrifice...He might have been the great scholar and teacher, the pre-eminent advocate, the judicial statesman. But all this he gave that these institutions...might survive and have being for generations to come."

In 1974, his coach, Eddie Anderson, said, "Nile Kinnick was the greatest football player I have ever coached and one of the greatest and most courageous I have ever seen...they named me Coach of the Year in 1939, but there is no doubt that the glory belonged to Iowa and Kinnick."

Iowa sportscaster Tait Cummins said, "Kinnick proved one thing, that college athletics could be beautiful. Everything that can be said that is good about college athletics he was. He didn't represent it...he was it."

Legacy

Honors

The honors that have been heaped upon Nile Kinnick after his death are almost innumerable. A high school in Yokosuka, Japan, for dependents of military personnel is named Nile C. Kinnick High School. The coin flipped at the start of every Big Ten football game bears his image, and each captain of a Big Ten team receives one such coin at the end of the year. Shortly after his death, a memorial fund was established at the University of Iowa in his honor. The Nile Kinnick Memorial Scholarship Fund is awarded annually to outstanding student-athletes at Iowa.

His number #24 has been retired, one of only two Iowa football numbers so recognized (Cal Jones' #62 is the other). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in the Hall's inaugural year in 1951, one of only two Hawkeye players so honored (Duke Slater was the other).

In 1989, Iowa fans selected an all-time University of Iowa football team during the 100th anniversary celebration of Iowa football. Nile Kinnick was not only selected to the team as a halfback, he was voted the team's MVP, or the most valuable player in the first century of Iowa football. Kinnick was an inaugural member of the Des Moines Register Sports Hall of Fame, joining Duke Slater, Aubrey Devine, Jay Berwanger, and Elmer Layden. In 1999, Sports Illustrated selected Nile Kinnick as the third greatest sports figure in the history of the state of Iowa, behind only Dan Gable and Kinnick's youth baseball teammate, Bob Feller.

College Football News ranked Kinnick as the ninth greatest college football player of all-time. An Iowa City theater produced a play based on Kinnick's life. Four books have been written about Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeyes.

Renaming The Stadium

After Nile Kinnick died in 1943, there was considerable sentiment to rename Iowa Stadium in his honor. However, his father was not comfortable with the idea, stating that Nile was just one of 407,000 Americans who lost their lives in military service during World War II. Ben Kinnick, Nile's brother, also lost his life in World War II, and Nile Kinnick, Sr. did not think it would be appropriate to single his son out for such an honor. The school reluctantly honored Mr. Kinnick's wishes.

In the early 1970's, Gus Schrader, the sports editor of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, resurrected the idea. He used his popular column in the paper to rally support for the cause. The movement began to gain support, most importantly when Mr. Kinnick softened his position and indicated he would not stand in the way of putting his son’s name on the stadium.

In the spring of 1972, the Iowa Athletic Board voted to rename the stadium in honor of the school’s only Heisman Trophy winner. The Hawkeyes’ first home game that year was with Oregon State, and a pre-game ceremony on September 23 made it official: Iowa Stadium became known as Kinnick Stadium. Nile’s father took part in the ceremony and seemed genuinely pleased.

Nile Kinnick's father, Nile Sr., was very close to his son. They had frequent written correspondence and Nile Sr. was a major influence in young Kinnick's life. Yet Mr. Kinnick was very humble, and he was very careful to never do anything that might be seen as taking attention away from his son. He was always quick to mention Nile's teammates on that 1939 Ironmen team whenever anyone praised his son's football achievements. Mr. Kinnick, who outlived two of his sons by nearly fifty years, lived long enough to see his son given Iowa football's highest honor.

Kinnick Stadium is the only college football stadium named for a former Heisman Trophy winner. In 2006, Iowa will finish renovations on Kinnick Stadium. As part of those renovations, the school will erect a 12 foot bronze statue of Kinnick in front of the stadium. Iowa will also place a 9 foot by 16 foot bronze relief on the wall of the stadium, depicting Kinnick's 1939 game-winning touchdown run against Notre Dame.

His Final Letter

After news of Kinnick's death was made public on July 3, 1943, a female friend of Nile's received a letter that the postman had previously overlooked. It was the last letter ever received from Nile Kinnick. Nile was responding to a letter she had sent him, detailing a trip she took to Iowa City.

In his final letter, Kinnick wrote, "I am so glad you could speak enthusiastically of your visit to Iowa City. That little town means so much to me...It is almost like home. I love the people, the campus, the trees, everything about it. And it is beautiful in the spring...And I hope you strolled off across the golf course just at twilight and felt the peace and quiet of an Iowa evening, just as I used to do."

External Links

• Scothawk Site Featuring Audio of Kinnick's Heisman Speech
• August 31, 1987 Sports Illustrated Feature on Nile Kinnick
• Everybody's All-American: ESPN Classic
• Nile Kinnick: A Football Inspiration
• Don't Forget Heisman Winner Kinnick