Trading in his football uniform for a military one, he became a fighter pilot in the U.S. #Who won the heisman trophy last year professional#1940: Michigan Star Tom Harmon Plays Himself in MovieĪlthough selected first in the 1941 NFL draft, Harmon-a tailback at Michigan-had more interest in becoming a professional sports broadcaster than a professional football player. The Heisman winner, the father of actor Mark Harmon, went to Hollywood after his graduation and starred in the 1941 film “Harmon of Michigan," which was loosely based on his collegiate career.Īfter being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Blanchard has his NFL aspirations dashed when the War Department denied him a four-month furlough from military service to play football. When his plane developed an oil leak while on a routine training flight off the USS Lexington aircraft carrier on June 2, 1943, the 24-year-old died in an attempted water landing off the coast of Venezuela. The University of Iowa renamed its football stadium in Kinnick’s honor in 1972. Three days before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he reported for induction with the U.S. The war, however, would ultimately take the life of the “Cornbelt Comet.”īorn and reared in Iowa, Kinnick bypassed the NFL to attend law school and serve as assistant football coach at his alma mater. “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. “I thank God I was warring on the gridirons of the Midwest and not on the battlefields of Europe,” he said. Months after World War II ignited in the fall of 1939, Kinnick-a University of Iowa senior-delivered one of the more memorable acceptance speeches in Heisman Trophy history. 1939: Iowa Star Nile Kinnick Dies in WWII Training Flight READ MORE: The Heisman Trophy Is Named After This Coach and Innovator 2.
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