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Nile Kinnick airplane crash correspondence, 1943-1972
1943-06-04: 31858060072406-06
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Kinnick, Ex-Grid Star, Dead Omaha, June 4 (AP).-Naval ensign Nile C. Kinnick Jr., the Iowa football great who loved the battle of the gridiron but who looked on war as only a grim job to perform, has been killed in action. Parents of the 24-year-old flier, who was attached to an aircraft carrier, said today they received word from the Navy Dept. that Nile had been killed in action and that his body had not been recovered. At Washington, the Navy said Kinnick was lost June 2 when his airplane made a forced landing at sea. A crash boat arrived at the scene within a few minutes but was unable to find Kinnick. Kinnick, All-America halfback at the University of Iowa in 1939. had enrolled in the Navy in September, 1941. He began training in Kansas City Dec. 4, 1941, three days before Pearl Harbor. His athletic career brought him a full slate of national honors. In addition to the All-America rating, Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy given by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York, the Maxwell Club of Philadelphia, and Racquet Club of Philadelphia, and the Walter Camp Award of the Touchdown Club of Washington, D. C. RANKED DiMAGGIO He was named Athlete of The Year in the Associated Press poll, finishing eight points ahead of baseball star Joe DiMaggio. He won the Chicago Tribune Trophy as the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference. When presented the Heisman Trophy, Kinnick said, "I thank God I was born to the gridirons of the Midwest and not the battlefields of Europe. I can confidently say that the boys of this country would rather win this trophy than the Croix de Guerre." But when he saw that war was coming he gave up his studies for a law career to enlist. "Nile saw there was a job to do, and knew he was one of the young men qualified to do It," said his father, an analyst in the Federal Land Bank in Omaha. After completing his football and college careers in 1939, Kinnick remained at Iowa to study law and serve as freshman football coach. He had completed a year of study when he enrolled in the Navy. On successive Saturdays in the Fall of '39 Kinnick played against Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Notre Dame and Wisconsin without relief, and then went 42 minutes against Northwestern in the finale before getting a rest. Probably his most spectacular afternoon was at the expense of Notre Dame. It was during this game that Kinnick, dazed in a previous scrimmage, turned the Iowa backfield inside out by putting the right halfback on the left and the left half on the right and then running the play to the wrong side for a touchdown. Iowa won, 7-6. In all, he personally figured in 107 of Iowa's 130 points that Fall. Dr. Eddie Anderson, furloughed Iowa head football coach, now a major in the U. S. Army Medical Corps, said of Kinnick: "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 provided the drive that Zamperini, Miler, Missing in Action Torrance, Calif., June 4 (AP). - Lieut. Lou Zamperini, one of the best distance runners who ever performed for the University of Southern California, has been missing since May 27 in the South Pacific War Theater, his mother, Mrs. Anthony Zamperini, was notified today from Washington. Zamperini. who set the NCAA mile record of 4:8.3 in '38, participated as bombardier in several bombing expeditions, including the Christmas Day attack on Japanese - held Wake Island. He reported in letters home that his plane was heavily shot up at times. At 18, he was a member of the American team which competed in the '36 Olympic Games at Berlin. He ran seventh in the 5,000 meter run. An international incident almost resulted after the games when he tore down a Nazi flag in front of Hitler's Berlin chancellery. 107 of Iowa's 130 points that Fall. Dr. Eddie Anderson, furloughed Iowa head football coach, now a major in the U. S. Army Medical Corps, said of Kinnick: "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 provided the drive that BARBERS APPLY IMMEDIATELY $35-$37-$40 plus 60% commission No Barber's License Needed. Steady Work FORT DIX BARBER SHOP FORT DIX, N. J. FORT DIX 2000, EXT. 5148
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Kinnick, Ex-Grid Star, Dead Omaha, June 4 (AP).-Naval ensign Nile C. Kinnick Jr., the Iowa football great who loved the battle of the gridiron but who looked on war as only a grim job to perform, has been killed in action. Parents of the 24-year-old flier, who was attached to an aircraft carrier, said today they received word from the Navy Dept. that Nile had been killed in action and that his body had not been recovered. At Washington, the Navy said Kinnick was lost June 2 when his airplane made a forced landing at sea. A crash boat arrived at the scene within a few minutes but was unable to find Kinnick. Kinnick, All-America halfback at the University of Iowa in 1939. had enrolled in the Navy in September, 1941. He began training in Kansas City Dec. 4, 1941, three days before Pearl Harbor. His athletic career brought him a full slate of national honors. In addition to the All-America rating, Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy given by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York, the Maxwell Club of Philadelphia, and Racquet Club of Philadelphia, and the Walter Camp Award of the Touchdown Club of Washington, D. C. RANKED DiMAGGIO He was named Athlete of The Year in the Associated Press poll, finishing eight points ahead of baseball star Joe DiMaggio. He won the Chicago Tribune Trophy as the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference. When presented the Heisman Trophy, Kinnick said, "I thank God I was born to the gridirons of the Midwest and not the battlefields of Europe. I can confidently say that the boys of this country would rather win this trophy than the Croix de Guerre." But when he saw that war was coming he gave up his studies for a law career to enlist. "Nile saw there was a job to do, and knew he was one of the young men qualified to do It," said his father, an analyst in the Federal Land Bank in Omaha. After completing his football and college careers in 1939, Kinnick remained at Iowa to study law and serve as freshman football coach. He had completed a year of study when he enrolled in the Navy. On successive Saturdays in the Fall of '39 Kinnick played against Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Notre Dame and Wisconsin without relief, and then went 42 minutes against Northwestern in the finale before getting a rest. Probably his most spectacular afternoon was at the expense of Notre Dame. It was during this game that Kinnick, dazed in a previous scrimmage, turned the Iowa backfield inside out by putting the right halfback on the left and the left half on the right and then running the play to the wrong side for a touchdown. Iowa won, 7-6. In all, he personally figured in 107 of Iowa's 130 points that Fall. Dr. Eddie Anderson, furloughed Iowa head football coach, now a major in the U. S. Army Medical Corps, said of Kinnick: "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 provided the drive that Zamperini, Miler, Missing in Action Torrance, Calif., June 4 (AP). - Lieut. Lou Zamperini, one of the best distance runners who ever performed for the University of Southern California, has been missing since May 27 in the South Pacific War Theater, his mother, Mrs. Anthony Zamperini, was notified today from Washington. Zamperini. who set the NCAA mile record of 4:8.3 in '38, participated as bombardier in several bombing expeditions, including the Christmas Day attack on Japanese - held Wake Island. He reported in letters home that his plane was heavily shot up at times. At 18, he was a member of the American team which competed in the '36 Olympic Games at Berlin. He ran seventh in the 5,000 meter run. An international incident almost resulted after the games when he tore down a Nazi flag in front of Hitler's Berlin chancellery. 107 of Iowa's 130 points that Fall. Dr. Eddie Anderson, furloughed Iowa head football coach, now a major in the U. S. Army Medical Corps, said of Kinnick: "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 provided the drive that BARBERS APPLY IMMEDIATELY $35-$37-$40 plus 60% commission No Barber's License Needed. Steady Work FORT DIX BARBER SHOP FORT DIX, N. J. FORT DIX 2000, EXT. 5148
Nile Kinnick Collection
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