Nile Kinnick
In the fall of 1939, Nile Kinnick did the improbable by leading an unheralded Iowa football team to the Big Ten title on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy.
You name it and Kinnick did it for the Hawkeyes during that magical season that came on the heels of the Great Depression. He scored or passed for all but 23 of the points tallied by Iowa during the 1939 season.
Kinnick led the team in virtually every way possible, but his influence went beyond statistics and victories. He was also a model student and a model citizen.
His Heisman Trophy acceptance speech still is considered one of the best ever given. And the fact that he turned down a chance to play professional football in order to attend law school was a testimony to his character.
Iowa’s 1939 team was called the Ironmen because most of the players rarely left the field during a game. Kinnick played 402 of a possible 420 minutes that season.
Iowa finished the season with a 6-1-1 record and ranked ninth in The Associated Press poll under first-year coach Eddie Anderson.
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.
“I’m looking forward to showing Anderson what a real football player looks like. So hold your hats.”
In addition to winning the Heisman Trophy, Kinnick, who was born in Adel, was named The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, beating out such notable candidates as Joe DiMaggio, golfer Byron Nelson and boxer Joe Louis.
Kinnick left law school after one year and enlisted in the Naval Air Reserve. He reported for induction three days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
He died June 2, 1943, while on a routine training flight. His plane developed an oil leak and crashed in the Gulf of Paria off the coast of Venezuela.
Kinnick was the first Heisman Trophy winner to die. He was 24 years old.
His jersey, No. 24, has since been retired and Kinnick Stadium is named in his honor.