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Nile Kinnick and Nile Kinnick Sr. letters to William C. Stuart, 1941-1983
1982-11-28: Page 13
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- 7 - In the summer of 1940 when he was 20 and giving his first political speech he emphasized the blessings of democracy -- order and personal liberty and our responsibility to be involved in the political process to ensure that these rights are protected. He said "When the members of any nation have come to regard their country as nothing more than the plot of ground on which they reside, and their government as a mere organization for providing police or contracting treatsies; when they have ceased to entertain any warmer feelings for one another than those which interest or personal friendship, or mere shear philantropy can produce, the moral dissolution of that nation is at hand." As a 19 year old, Nile had this to say about college education and athletics "As a result of the nationwide commercialization of sport and the development of win-at-any-price attitude there is apt to develop doubious tactics and an unhealthy outlook toward the game by players and coaches alike. However, to the boy who plays for shear fun and healthy competition, who is motivated by a desire that the best man shall win, and that the laws ofhonesty and fair play shall obtain--to him the game may prove of worth, though it be corrupted and controlled * * * he learns to evaluate -- 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 conditions that will confront him after college-- the same dimensions and circumstances. But how many football players realize this?"
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- 7 - In the summer of 1940 when he was 20 and giving his first political speech he emphasized the blessings of democracy -- order and personal liberty and our responsibility to be involved in the political process to ensure that these rights are protected. He said "When the members of any nation have come to regard their country as nothing more than the plot of ground on which they reside, and their government as a mere organization for providing police or contracting treatsies; when they have ceased to entertain any warmer feelings for one another than those which interest or personal friendship, or mere shear philantropy can produce, the moral dissolution of that nation is at hand." As a 19 year old, Nile had this to say about college education and athletics "As a result of the nationwide commercialization of sport and the development of win-at-any-price attitude there is apt to develop doubious tactics and an unhealthy outlook toward the game by players and coaches alike. However, to the boy who plays for shear fun and healthy competition, who is motivated by a desire that the best man shall win, and that the laws ofhonesty and fair play shall obtain--to him the game may prove of worth, though it be corrupted and controlled * * * he learns to evaluate -- 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 conditions that will confront him after college-- the same dimensions and circumstances. But how many football players realize this?"
Nile Kinnick Collection
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