The Ultimate Sacrifice

Nile Clarke Kinnick Jr. was almost too good to be true.

The 1939 Heisman Trophy winner was a student-athlete in the truest sense. He was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and president of the senior class at the University of Iowa. The grandson of former Iowa governor George W. Clarke, he appeared destined for a political career. Kinnick had passed on a pro football career, and a $10,000 offer from the Brooklyn Dodgers, to attend law school at Iowa.

Believing that war was imminent, Kinnick joined the Naval Air Corps Reserve in August 1941. He reported for duty on December 4, three days before Pearl Harbor. But the conflict had been on his mind for years.

When he gave his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech in December 1939, Kinnick touched on the realities of life and war. "I thank God I was warring on the gridirons of the Midwest and not on the battlefields of Europe," Kinnick said. "I can speak confidently and positively that the players of this country would much more, much rather struggle and fight to win the Heisman award than the Croix de Guerre."

Less than four years later, those were haunting words. Kinnick, 24, became a casualty of World War II. A navy pilot, Ensign Kinnick perished on June 2, 1943. During a training maneuver, he was flying a single-seat fighter over the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Venezuela, when it developed an oil leak.

The deck of the USS Lexington was a busy place, with pilots and planes preparing for takeoff. Instead of putting others' lives at risk, Kinnick attempted a water landing instead. His plane went down four miles from the carrier. A search turned up neither Kinnick nor his plane, only an oil slick. Kinnick was one of 407,000 Americans who lost their lives in military service during World War II.

It was devastating news back home. Dr. Eddie Anderson, who had been Kinnick's coach during his senior season at Iowa, issued a statement that spoke for a stunned state. "Nile was a grand young man whose qualities of citizenship, leadership, and all-around worth matched his outstanding ability as an athlete and competitor," Anderson said. "I feel a deep sense of personal loss. He was loved by everyone who knew him. His kindness and consideration for others stamped him as a typically ideal American. In the uniform of his country, he gave everything — that was the only way Nile Kinnick knew how to play the game."

Kinnick's Heisman Trophy sits in Iowa's Hansen Football Performance Center today. His No. 24 was retired. And in 1972 Iowa Stadium was renamed Kinnick Stadium. Nile Kinnick was a part of the charter class of the College Football Hall of Fame, inducted in 1951.

When Kinnick died, Des Moines Register sports editor Sec Taylor wrote, "His death is like that of a member of one's immediate family."

Today a 20-foot-tall bronze statue of Kinnick, erected in 2006, stands outside the south end of the stadium. Iowa players and coaches walk by the likeness of Kinnick on their way to the locker room on game days and touch a helmet at the foot of the statute for good luck.

"The Acme in Recognition"

After Iowa's Nile Kinnick won the 1939 Heisman Trophy, his acceptance speech captivated the audience. That speech has become a rich piece of Iowa football history. A portion of that speech is played at home games in Kinnick Stadium, right before the National Anthem. Here's is Kinnick's December 6, 1939, speech:

"Thank you very, very kindly, Mr. Holcombe. It seems to me that everyone is letting their superlatives run away with them this evening, but nonetheless, I want you to know that I'm mighty, mighty happy to accept this trophy this evening.

"Every football player in these United States dreams about winning that trophy, and of this fine trip to New York. Every player considers that trophy the acme in recognition of this kind. And the fact that I am actually receiving this trophy tonight almost overwhelms me, and I know that all of those boys who have gone before me must have felt somewhat the same way.

"From my own personal viewpoint, I consider my winning this award...