Nile Kinnick: A Football Inspiration

Nile Kinnick raised the game, from a grueling physical contest, to an art form where mind and spirit were coordinated with a well-trained body.

So intent was the country upon imitating these legends and forgetting the desperate Depression years, it nearly overlooked five-foot, eight inches and 175 pounds of fresh talent flaming from America's Heartland.

Nile Kinnick was born in Adel, Iowa, to a family rich in tradition and infused with principled living. His paternal grandfather was a successful banker and his maternal grandfather rose from justice of the peace to become Iowa's governor. Nile once wrote to his grandmother Clarke, "Nothing you could say would make me feel happier than to say that in many ways I remind you of grandpa."

Nile's father was a top scholar-athlete at Adel and Iowa State College. Graduating in agronomy gave him the skills to become a farm manager rather than a laboring farmer.

The Formative Years

In junior high, Nile was the catcher for future baseball great Bob Feller, and by high school, he also excelled in basketball and football.

In his junior year, Nile starred on Adel's undefeated football team. During his senior year at Benson High, he earned all-state in football and basketball while graduating as an A student.

Kinnick, always one to cheer for the underdog, then chose to attend the University of Iowa, clearly the worst team in the Big Ten. Iowa had won only 22 games between 1930 and 1938, and for five of those seasons, never beat a Big Ten team.

At Iowa, Nile played baseball his freshman year and basketball for two years before quitting both to focus on his studies and football. His first three years he was coached by the unlucky Irl Tubbs, whose two-year record at Iowa was 2-13-1. Nevertheless, Kinnick was a member of the Associated Press All-Big Ten football team as a sophomore.

Quietly, he was gaining the reputation for being a "thinking man's player," a theme reflected in his diary. "The athlete learns to evaluate-between athletics and studies, between playing for fun and playing as a business, between playing clean and playing dirty, between being conventional and being true to one's convictions. He is facing the identical condition which will confront him after college-the same dimensions and circumstances. But how many football players realize this?"

Kinnick played his junior season with what was probably a broken ankle. But because of a Christian Science background, he never allowed it to be examined or treated. Amazingly, that year he completed a high percentage of his passes and was the fourth-best punter in the country-earning Big Ten honorable mention.

The next year, Iowa hired a new head coach, Dr. Eddie Anderson, who had played for Knute Rockne at Notre Dame. He hired Frank Carideo, Rockne's three-time All-American quarterback, and Jim Harris.

Kinnick, whose father taught him how to kick, was always the first player at practice and last to leave. Carideo taught him how to make a "coffin-corner" kick hop out of bounds in either direction. The two practiced punting and drop-kicking from all over the gridiron before and after every practice. Sophomore quarterback Al Couppee remembered, "They were so accurate it was like watching two guys playing catch."

After Anderson's grueling spring workouts, 50 of 85 players quit. Kinnick, who enjoyed those challenges, wrote his family an unusually brash letter. "For three years, nay for 15 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."

Everyone in the country picked Iowa to finish last in the Big Ten for 1939, the first year helmets were required. Anderson ran the Notre Dame Box-a cousin of the single-wing formation that demanded a strong tailback. Nile was a triple-threat player who could not only pass with both hands, punt and drop-kick accurately, but also tackled like a cement truck. So personable and intelligent was Kinnick that he became the only player Anderson ever called by his first name.

The Upstart Season

Nile's father had yet to see his son's team win a game. Hoping to catch a victory, he decided to show up at the opening game against South Dakota, by far the weakest team on Iowa's schedule. Nile Jr. scored 23 points that day-more than any Iowa player since Oran (Nanny) Pape in 1928.

He carried just eight times but racked up 100 yards (his longest carry went for 65 yards) and three touchdowns, passed for two more and drop-kicked five conversion points. Witnessing Iowa win 41-0, Nile's dad decided right then to drive to every home game.

Kinnick was shifty runner who used the stiff arm incredibly well. He also developed the talent of lowering his shoulder and then raising it up upon impact. Suddenly, potential tacklers found themselves bouncing off in the opposite direction as he ran by. He amazed all onlookers by continually out-performing himself in every game.

With Indiana leading and time running out, Iowa drove down to the 10-yard line. On fourth down, Iowa was in position to tie the game 29-29 with a field goal. But the underdog would not tolerate that. "Forget the tie," Nile shot back to his teammates, "we're going all the way." On fourth down, Kinnick led speedy receiver, Erwin Prasse, perfectly for a diving catch in the end zone. Iowa stunned Indiana and the rest of the Big Ten by winning its first conference game in six years, 32-29.

The next week Michigan overpowered the Hawkeyes by a score of 27-7. During the ensuing weeks injuries so depleted Anderson's troops that he only took a traveling squad of 26 players. Before the Wisconsin game, reporters asked about his small crew. Anderson replied that they would just have to play like "Ironmen." Kinnick's passing brought his Hawkeyes from behind for an impressive 19-13 win. Sportswriters, remembering the "Galloping Ghost" (Red Grange) and the "Four Horsemen" of the 1920s, enthusiastically latched onto the nickname. For evermore, the '39 Iowa squad were the Ironmen.

When Iowa wrangled with Purdue, neither offense could mount a concerted drive. Iowa had one chance to score near the goal line, but sophomore quarterback Couppee decided to use Nile as a decoy. It didn't work. At halftime, Anderson was so upset that he shouted, "Couppee, when we get down on the goal line, there's just one guy on this football team who should get the football! Do you know who he is? Why don't you meet Nile Kinnick."

Years later Couppe remembered how embarrassed he felt. The game's only points came when Mike Enich blocked two punts for safeties. Iowa, which used just 14 of its 26 players, won 4-0-a score reminiscent of the rough and rumble 1890s.

Back in Iowa City the next week, the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish came marching in. Sending in fresh players one after another, the Irish hyped to wear down the "Ironmen." But the tough Iowa squad held their won against the mighty team form South Bend. Near the end of the first half, after an Irish defender, Stiko, intercepted a Kinnick pass in the end zone, he thereafter fumbled on his own 4-yard line.

Iowa ran twice without much luck, so Couppee called his teammates into a rare huddle. Remembering his coach's tirade, he called for Nile to carry the ball. Then he had another urge to improvise. But this time, he shifted Kinnick from left to right halfback. The snap went straight to Nile. He smashed into a wall of blue jerseys at the goal line, kept his feet moving, scored and then drop-kicked the extra point. Iowa lead at the half.

To shift the psychological momentum, Notre Dame changed from blue to green jerseys in the second half. But Anderson's football savvy ran deeper than his Rockne roots. Nile's long punts kept Notre Dame on it's heels. That day he punted 16 times for a total of 731 yards, averaging 45.6 yards per kick (the number of punts and total yardage are still Iowa records).

With less than two minutes to play, Kinnick boomed another punt deep into Irish territory. Astonished, Steve Sitko watched the ball sail overhead. The Ironmen, eight of whom played the entire 60 minutes, jubilantly carried Kinnick from the field. Iowa had beaten invincible Notre Dame 7-6, using only 15 players!

The next week, Minnesota gave the Hawkeyes a pounding and led 9-0 going into the fourth quarter. But then Kinnick threw touchdown passes to Prasse and Bill Green.

When the dust cleared, Iowa had beaten famous coach Bernie Bierman's Gophers, 13-9. The game was so dramatic and Kinnick's performance so gutsy, many people sat stunned in the stands long after Nile's teammates lifted him on their shoulders.

In the final game against Northwestern, Iowa saw its chance to win the Big Ten. By then Kinnick had played 60 minutes in six straight games and was prepared to launch into his best effort. Unfortunately, he seperated his shoulder. Despite all his efforts, he had to leave the game. Only a Northwestern fumble allowed Iowa to extract a 7-7 tie. It was a hard fate to accept, since the tie made Ohio State the undisputed winner of the Big Ten.

Becoming A Legend

The leader of the Ironmen, Nile Kinnick played 402 out of 420 minutes and scored 107 of Iowa's 135 points. His teammates, 12 of whom played all 60 minutes in at least one game, voted him their most valuable player. Anderson was named coach of the year by the New York World-Telegram and Hawkeyes' Prasse, Kinnick and Enich were voted to many All-America teams.

That was just the beginning of Kinnick's postseason recognition. He beat out Joe DiMaggio (.381 batting average) and Joe Louis (four KOs) for Outstanding Male Athlete of 1939, becoming the first football player ever to win that honor. He was awarded the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Trophy and the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy.

His impromptu Heisman acceptance speech was so moving that, at first, the audience was too stunned to respond. Then 700 men and women began cheering and gave him a standing ovation.

By year's end, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, was awarded a scholarship to law school and asked to deliver a speech to his graduating class. On the eve of World War II, he challenged his classmates with a wisdom belying his age. "I refer, fellow graduates, to a real, positive, mental courage. We all seem to have the courage to face the physical forces of life-sickness, poverty, unemployment, even war itself-but how about courage of conviction, of morality, of idealism, courage of faith in a principle tangible proof of which is slow in appearing."

He was so popular around the country that he received more votes for the 1940 College All-Star game than any other player. His face appeared on the program cover for the August 29th game against the Green Bay Packers. That day Kinnick thrilled fans by passing for two touchdowns and drop-kicking four extra points. The All-Stars lost 45-28 to the NFL champions.

The NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers were so impressed with him they drafted him with an offer of $10,000 (a huge amount in those days). However, Kinnick was not impressed with the prospects of a football career. Nile declared, "My football career is over. Law is my first priority." With that, Kinnick's football career came to a sudden end. He never played again.

Truly a humble and compassionate man, Kinnick's speaking engagements were all sold out. He loved encouraging people to use the common gifts of self-discipline and resolve that had granted him success. He briefly considered a career in politics but instead joined the Naval Air Corps in 1941. He piloted a Grumman F4F Wildcat and was training on the carrier Lexington off the coast of Trinidad.

After one successful training mission, he reflected in his diary, "It was a big mistake to try and be head man in everything." On June 2, 1943, while flying a routine training mission in the Gulf of Paria, his plane suddenly developed a serious oil leak.

Since landing on board would have endangered many lives, Nile instead decided to ditch at sea. No trace of him or his plane was ever found. The last entry in his diary read, "People must come before profits."

Nile's Legacy

Underdogs? Nile and his teammates left a legacy larger than football. In just one magical season, they elevated themselves from last place to a lofty national legend. In sandlots and city streets across the country, young boys enjoyed taking their inspiration from the spunky Ironmen.

The coffin-corner punt found new life, and for a few more years, the drop-kick, a vestige of football's early days, was practiced by hopeful lads all over America. More importantly, Nile Kinnick raised the game from a grueling physical contest to an art form, where mind and spirit were coordinated with a well-trained body.