DIY History | Transcribe | Nile Kinnick Collection | Correspondence to and from Nile Kinnick, friends and family regarding his championship football season, August-December 1939

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Correspondence to and from Nile Kinnick, friends and family regarding his championship football season, August-December 1939

1939-10-15: Front

10-15-'39
Sunday evening
Dear Family:
I know that you all want to know the story on the Mich. trip so here it is.
First of all I want to thank you, father, for your fine letter received in Jackson. It was one of the finest I have ever received from you and there have been many of them. Thank you so much; I don't know how a son could go out and play so poorly after reading a letter like that.
Well, Mich had a fine team with a very good back by the name of Harmon. He is not as good as we made him look and we are not as poor as the score indicates. He is very fast and swept our ends all afternoon, wich plus the donated pass I gave him put him well on his way to All-American. Power to him but I wish we could play it over; that is the ruthless part of this game sometimes--the fact that once it is over nothing can be done about it; the same identical outfit never meets again. I am disgusted with the game I played--especially the fumble, my poor tackling, and poor signal calling. As per usual I can figure out how my mistakes lost the whole daggone game. Fortunately, I have reached the stage where it doesn't bother me so much anymore and it probably isn't entirely true anyway. On offense I didn't have a smell all day; they overshifted a man and a half on the strong side and bottled up completely all my running plays. Boy how they did rush me when I passed; they came in faster than any team I have ever played. I suppose in reality they had a better team than we although we might have eeked out a win with a few breaks. I think most of all that we need a spark to keep us going all the time. I don't need it personally but I suppose I should try to keep the other boys pepped up all the time although it gets to be a tough job after three years of heavy schedules. I came through unscathed which is as it should be. This week we have an open date and thenwe play Wisconsin up there. They have a good ball club despite a poor start--we can beat them however if we play the way we should. Anderson took the loss very well although I know he really wanted that game of all games. It breaks my heart to have sort of let him down. He really is a fine fellow and a swell coach. We stopped and saw the Bear-Cardinal pro game in Chicago. It would have been a perfect trip if we could have just won; or at least played up to our full capabilities.
Thank you for the clippings mother and also the sentinel. I'll see what I can do about a football for George. Also tell him that I enjoyed his letter very much; it sounded quite mature.
Well that is that unhappy as it is; you'd think a fellow who has played as much as I have wouldn't have those kind of days anymore. Such is thelife of the athlete-- some good some bad.
Yours,
Nile
P:S: Help me handle malpractice; the claim will be active I suppose after a game like that. Love to all.

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10-15-'39 Sunday evening Dear Family: I know that you all want to know the story on the Mich. trip so here it is. First of all I want to thank you, father, for your fine letter received in Jackson. It was one of the finest I have ever received from you and there have been many of them. Thank you so much; I don't know how a son could go out and play so poorly after reading a letter like that. Well, Mich had a fine team with a very good back by the name of Harmon. He is not as good as we made him look and we are not as poor as the score indicates. He is very fast and swept our ends all afternoon, wich plus the donated pass I gave him put him well on his way to All-American. Power to him but I wish we could play it over; that is the ruthless part of this game sometimes--the fact that once it is over nothing can be done about it; the same identical outfit never meets again. I am disgusted with the game I played--especially the fumble, my poor tackling, and poor signal calling. As per usual I can figure out how my mistakes lost the whole daggone game. Fortunately, I have reached the stage where it doesn't bother me so much anymore and it probably isn't entirely true anyway. On offense I didn't have a smell all day; they overshifted a man and a half on the strong side and bottled up completely all my running plays. Boy how they did rush me when I passed; they came in faster than any team I have ever played. I suppose in reality they had a better team than we although we might have eeked out a win with a few breaks. I think most of all that we need a spark to keep us going all the time. I don't need it personally but I suppose I should try to keep the other boys pepped up all the time although it gets to be a tough job after three years of heavy schedules. I came through unscathed which is as it should be. This week we have an open date and thenwe play Wisconsin up there. They have a good ball club despite a poor start--we can beat them however if we play the way we should. Anderson took the loss very well although I know he really wanted that game of all games. It breaks my heart to have sort of let him down. He really is a fine fellow and a swell coach. We stopped and saw the Bear-Cardinal pro game in Chicago. It would have been a perfect trip if we could have just won; or at least played up to our full capabilities. Thank you for the clippings mother and also the sentinel. I'll see what I can do about a football for George. Also tell him that I enjoyed his letter very much; it sounded quite mature. Well that is that unhappy as it is; you'd think a fellow who has played as much as I have wouldn't have those kind of days anymore. Such is thelife of the athlete-- some good some bad. Yours, Nile P:S: Help me handle malpractice; the claim will be active I suppose after a game like that. Love to all.