Biography on nile kinnick
•
Nile Kinnick, famed Iowa football player who died in WWII, to be honored with new documentary
During home games in Iowa City, thousands of Iowa Hawkeyes fans walk past a statue of Nile Kinnick's likeness as they make their way into a stadium named in his honor.
Soon, Iowans can get to know the man behind the legend in "Kinnick: The Documentary," set to release Aug. 24 on Vimeo.
Executive producer Scott Siepker, better known as the "Iowa Nice Guy" from his popular YouTube series, said the journey from the documentary's conception to the finished documentary took about 10 years.
Siepker grew up in Mount Carmel, a small community in Carroll County, where he became a Hawkeyes fan and learned about Kinnick.
"I grew up not knowing much about him, just the 10,000-foot view — he won the Heisman, he was really good, he was a smart person," Siepker said. "When I was growing up, there wasn't even a statue of him at that time. It was just the stadium. So really, his legend has just cont
•
Nile Kinnick
American football player
For the British politician, see Neil Kinnock.
Kinnick c. 1939 | |
| Position | Halfback |
|---|---|
| Major | Economics |
| Born: | (1918-07-09)July 9, 1918 Adel, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died: | June 2, 1943(1943-06-02) (aged 24) Gulf of Paria, Venezuela |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Weight | 167 lb (76 kg) |
| College | |
| High school | |
| College Football Hall of Fame(1951) | |
| Memorialized | Tablets of the Missing, East Coast Memorial |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service / branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1941–1943 |
| Rank | Ensign |
| Unit | USS Lexington |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Memorials | |
Nile Clarke Kinnick Jr. (July 9, 1918 – June 2, 1943) was an American naval aviator, lag student, and college football player for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American. He died during a training fli
•
By Mike Chapman
At five foot eight inches tall and 170 pounds, he would hardly be noticed walking across a college campus, even back in 1939. In today’s world, he wouldn’t even be considered average in size for a 22-year-old male. Many of those who saw him on the University of Iowa campus in 1939 remembered that he was always carrying several books and that he had a quick smile for anyone who looked his way. Despite the incredible acclaim that came during his final year of college, he appeared totally unaffected. He continued in the same style that he had learned from his parents while growing up in Adel, Iowa.
Yet, what he accomplished on a football field during his career at the University of Iowa in the late 1930s has earned Nile Kinnick, Jr., a unique position in the pantheon of the state’s most honored legends. He is the only athlete from the state to ever win the coveted Heisman Trophy, given to the nation’s best college football player, and is the o