Nile Kinnick

Between the "soap opera careers" of guys like Brett Favre, the ever-present arrogance of athletes like AI or ManRam, and the drug abuse and sex rampant among all the professional leagues, you have to strain yourself to find positive role models in sports today. The message today is that young athletes just need to worry about getting their's and forget about the consequences.

This was not how Nile Kinnick rolled. He came from a strong family that was heavily involved in politics and the community. As a teenager, he excelled in his studies and multiple sports, but especially football.

When it came time to choose a college, instead of choosing the nearby powerhouse, the University of Minnesota, he chose to attend the University of Iowa because he knew the Hawkeyes were down and wanted to help the program out. His college career started slowly and the team struggled his first 3 years. Despite his impressive personal accomplishments, the team had limited success.

By Kinnick's senior year though, he was ready to change all that. The team finished the year ranked 9th in the country and had a 6-1-1 record. Kinnick was widely lauded as the reason for their success. He won multiple awards including the Big Ten MVP and the Heisman Trophy. His acceptance speech for the Heisman became famous for his humility and grace. In addition to his responsibilities on the football team, he was the student body president his senior year and graduated with honors. He had multiple offers after graduation to play professional football and baseball, but spurned them all to enter law school and to continue to help out the football team as an assistant.

After that year, he made the decision to enter the Naval reserves so he could do his part to help protect and defend the country. He reported for induction 3 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. While training to be a fighter pilot off the coast of Venezuela, his plane started leaking oil. The leak was so bad that he was forced to eject. We can only assumed what happened next because his body was never found...

It's hard not to think about all the success that could have awaited Kinnick if he had come home safe. Who knows? Governor, Congressman, President? The sky seemed to be the limit for his future. In some ways though, his death may have made a larger impact. Generations of boys can look to his example of selfless sacrifice and see that there are bigger things out there than how many points they had or how much bling is around their neck.

This story almost seems larger than life to me. It's hard to believe that one guy could have accomplished so much by the age of 24! I hope my kids will look him as a inspiration, and I hope that his legacy will inspire more kids to be the right kind of person.

Here are some links to more information on Kinnick. Enjoy

http://iowa.scout.com/2/656367.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066387/6/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Kinnick