58 Facts About Nile Kinnick

Nile Kinnick won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American.

Nile Kinnick died during a training flight while serving as a United States Navy aviator in World War II.

Nile Kinnick's parents were devoted to the teachings of Christian Science and helped Nile Kinnick develop values of discipline, hard work, and strong morals.

Nile Kinnick was reportedly constantly thinking about self-improvement and working on turning personal weaknesses into strengths.

Nile Kinnick was a devout Christian Scientist, and regularly attended the Christian Science branch church in Iowa City, while he was a student at the university.

Nile Kinnick began showing athletic aptitude at a young age as well.

At Adel High School, Nile Kinnick led the football team to an undefeated season, and then he scored 485 points for the basketball team, leading them to the district finals.

Nile Kinnick was a first-team all-state selection in both football and basketball as a senior, as he started for one year with his brother Ben at Benson High School in Omaha.

Nile Kinnick led Benson to a third-place finish in the state basketball and to the city baseball championship.

Nile 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.

Nile Kinnick didn't want to go to Minnesota, because they were on top.

Nile Kinnick finally went to Iowa as he figured they were at their lowest ebb.

Nile Kinnick was recruited to Iowa by Coach Ossie Solem in 1936.

Nile Kinnick played baseball and basketball during his freshman year.

Nile Kinnick played through the pain, but it hampered his effectiveness.

Nile Kinnick was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection his junior year in 1938.

Nile Kinnick was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at the University of Iowa during his undergraduate years.

Nile Kinnick referred to all of his players by their last names, except Kinnick, who was always "Nile".

Nile Kinnick believed the 1939 team could be a good one, but only if the starters played significant minutes.

Nile Kinnick threw for 638 yards and 11 touchdowns on only 31 passes and ran for 374 yards.

Nile Kinnick was involved in 16 of the 19 touchdowns that Iowa scored and was involved in 107 of the 130 points that Iowa scored that year.

Nile Kinnick played 402 of a possible 420 minutes that season.

All told, Nile Kinnick set 14 school records, six of which still stand over 65 years later.

Nile Kinnick 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.

Nile Kinnick won the Big Ten MVP award by the largest margin in history.

Nile Kinnick won the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy.

Nile Kinnick even won the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, beating out such notables as Joe DiMaggio, Byron Nelson, and Joe Louis.

Nile Kinnick was the first college football player to win that award.

On November 28,1939, Nile Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy, becoming to date the only Iowa Hawkeye to win college football's most prestigious award.

Some sources state that Nile Kinnick traveled to Minneapolis for a tryout with the Gophers, but that the Gophers rejected him.

Some even suggest that Minnesota's legendary coach, Bernie Bierman, stated himself that Nile Kinnick was "too small and too slow" to play for Minnesota.

Nile Kinnick considered enrolling at Minnesota, but how seriously and whether he actually attended a football tryout is uncertain.

The officials conferred to discuss if Nile Kinnick had scored, and Nile Kinnick approached the officials to inform them that he had been, in fact, stopped short of the goal, and Michigan went on to win the game.

Iowa's only touchdown was scored when Nile Kinnick switched to right halfback for the first time all season from his usual left halfback spot, and the Notre Dame defense was caught unprepared by the switch.

Nile Kinnick's story is refuted by almost everyone on the 1939 Iowa team.

Teammates Erwin Prasse and George "Red" Frye substantiate Couppee's version, but neither of them refuted that Nile Kinnick was injured on a previous play.

Nile Kinnick was elected student body president during his senior year at Iowa.

Nile Kinnick gave the commencement speech for the University of Iowa's graduating class in 1940.

Nile 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.

Nile Kinnick 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.

Nile Kinnick had seen a bust of his grandfather in the state house and stated he hoped that someday he would merit the honor to be like his grandfather.

Nile Kinnick accompanied the team to South Bend to see Iowa upset the Irish for the second straight season.

Nile Kinnick left law school after one year and enlisted in the Naval Air Reserve.

Nile Kinnick was able to return to Iowa one last time in 1942.

Nile Kinnick visited Adel and saw his father one final time.

Nile Kinnick then went to Iowa City and watched Iowa's football game against Washington University from the press box.

Nile Kinnick had been flying for over an hour when his Grumman F4F Wildcat developed an oil leak so serious that he could neither reach land nor the Lexington, whose flight deck was already crowded with planes preparing for launch anyway.

Nile Kinnick followed standard military procedure and executed an emergency landing in the water, but died in the process.

Nile Kinnick was one month and seven days away from his 25th birthday, and was the first Heisman Trophy winner to die.

Since Nile Kinnick's body was never found, it is possible that he was still tethered to the plane when it sank.

The possibility, however remote, that Nile Kinnick's body is still with the plane led to overwhelming opposition to Tosaw's efforts; Nile Kinnick's father opposed the idea, saying that it would be like digging up his son's grave.

Nile Kinnick 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.

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.

Nile Kinnick was one of just five football players inducted into the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame in the Hall's inaugural year in 1951, joining Duke Slater, Aubrey Devine, Jay Berwanger, and Elmer Layden.

In 1972 "Nile Kinnick Stadium" was again proposed by Cedar Rapids Gazette sportswriter Gus Schrader, who had previously supported the students' efforts.

Nile Kinnick's father took part in the ceremony and seemed genuinely pleased.

Nile Kinnick Stadium is the only college football stadium named for a Heisman Trophy winner.

Iowa placed a 9-by-16-foot bronze relief on the wall of the stadium, depicting Nile Kinnick's 1939 game-winning touchdown run against Notre Dame.