Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kinnick: The Documentary with Scott Siepker on Iowa Football's Only Heisman Winner

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

Trent Condon is joined by Scott Siepker as they look at his new documentary called Kinnick: The Documentary.They take a look at what kind of football player Nile Kinnick was for the Hawkeyes, his aspirations to be in government. A possibility of a run at president and a real chance that it could have been JFK vs. Nile for the presidency.Some fun conversations on his Heisman Trophy speech and his dating as well. You can watch Kinnick: The Documentary here: Watch Kinnick: The Documentary Online | Vimeo On Demand on VimeoAnd also this week at the Palm's Theatre in Waukee.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh, it's locked on. Today we go live on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast with Scott Sipker. He is the head of the new documentary about Niall Kinnick. We also get into some more concerning news about the Iowa Hawkeyes wide receiver position. All today on Locked On Hawkeyes. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Trondon. Back with you another another edition of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Glad to have you aboard with us here today as we talk Hawkeyes with you in a little bit of a different conversation today as I am joined at the top by Scott Sipker as he is getting ready for the premiere of his new documentary on Niall Kinnick. Scott, always good to catch up with you. Good to see you once again, and it's not at our KXNO Radio Studios. Well, you're at your home pad. I'm at my home pad, and it's good to see you got some Hawkeye gear

back behind you. Yeah, yes, I do. I've got this helmet, and the other helmets are above. But, you know, for now, I listen to Locked On Network all love uh I I listen to Lockdown Network all it's like I listen to Lockdown Bills, Lockdown Pelicans and a little less these days the Lockdown Cubs so this is my I've always been a listener it's fun to be on this this network now. I'm glad to uh have you a part of it here and obviously for Hawkeye fans right now a very exciting time with the launch of your new

documentary on Niall Kinnick. So let's start at the top. It's a story that I think every Hawkeye fan at least has some semblance of a feeling about. We know the big points, right? Won the Heisman Trophy, great team, a guy that many people thought was destined for great things in politics and then passed away early in his life. Besides that, though, I mean, this is much deeper. So outside of those most big salient points, what are people going to learn during this hour and a half, two hour documentary? So much. It's a 90 minute documentary. And I've been telling people you're going to learn stuff for 87 minutes of it. I, like you, had those bullet points growing up in Iowa. You

know, I knew the bullet points of Niall's life, but what gets lost in those bullet points is all of the space in between those bullet points is actually the more interesting stuff that shows you his motivations. You understand the world he grew up in, not just in Adel, but geopolitics as a whole. And we really, there's so many moments I'm proud of in this film. Just one example is really breaking down that Heisman speech. We know the Heisman speech, but I know I didn't have any real idea what he was actually talking about. Like, what's the Croix de Guerre? Like, I don't know. I didn't know what he was actually talking about. Like, what's the quoi de guerre? Like,

I don't know. I didn't know what that was. And in this documentary, we really kind of break down that speech and try to help us all in a modern era understand why it was such a big deal. And that, combined with his amazing performance in the 1939 season catapulted him to being one of the most talked about individuals in America in 1939. You know, that's such an interesting part of this conversation, too, is we think of college athletes today and you think of Heisman Trophy winners. And there's been great ones and there's ones that have been a little more forgotten throughout the years. But college football was such an important sport. He was not just the Heisman Trophy winner that year. He was also the AP Player of the Year. It didn't matter the sport.

Explain that a little bit and some of the other top contenders for the award that year. Yeah. So in 1939, the Associated Press looked at the landscape, and they saw Joe DiMaggio hit 381 that year and and Joe Lewis had four heavyweight knockouts to defend his title and yet the AP still looked at what Niall had accomplished with his fellow Ironman teammates in 1939 and decided he is male athlete of the year let that settle in that is is, it's extraordinary. And I just, I think as time has gone on, we have lost sight of Niles' national place in the conversation in 40. And we really think of him as a local kid, which he is, but he also had such an impact.

also had such an impact. And as one of the commentators at the time said, he was competing with Shirley Temple for America's favorite personality. And that's, yeah, wow. Wow. And so Nile was a, he was a, we're lucky to be able to call him an Iowan. He represented us well, he represented his family well, and he certainly represented his country well. Another piece of this is something that's been thrown out a lot, that he would have been governor, he would have been president, you know, these kind of things. And they're grandiose, and maybe they're just something about people that pass away that is a nice thing to say. What is the likelihood of that? A career in politics, take it to that part of it, and why so many people said just those kind of things about him. Yeah, the reason you say that stuff is because it's right there on the page in his own penmanship.

His plan was to get through the war, find a nice girl to marry, have a family, complete his law degree, and get involved in politics. And he thought maybe he'd just be a country lawyer, but you could tell in his writings, he was thinking much bigger picture. And so while it is really unlikely that any one person would become a federal senator of their state or even less likely that somebody would become president. It is not hyperbolic to say those things were within the legitimate realm of possibilities for Niall Kinnick. When you factor in his fame that we just talked about, you factor in his style, his good looks, his athleticism, you know, because that just gives you this aura and his amazing morals and ethics,

plus the fact that his grandfather was governor of this state for two terms. And he was explicit in writing that he wanted to become a public servant. It is entirely possible, if he could have survived the war that we could have looked at a Nile Kinnick as the Republican nominee in 1960 versus JFK, the Democratic nominee. And it is, just think of how this world would have been different if instead of the darling

of the Republican party back then being Richard Nixon, it was Niall Kinnock. And so his loss is it's a real loss. Certainly, for sure, we can prove that from the family aspect. But I think it's it is fair. It's not it's not gratuitous and it's not over the top to suggest he could have been a Senator of the state. And, and I think he, he had even grander ambitions. I know it sounds ridiculous. Every time I say it out loud, like people you can't project that for people,

but I think that's how extraordinary Niall was because I think it is fair to project that that was his potential. Oh, that's incredible That's incredible. And absolutely incredible to think of what that presidency and that campaign would have been between JFK and Niall Kinnick and just how wild that would have been. And Nixon, not exactly a beloved figure

even before everything that happened. And you think about those two, just how different this world certainly could be. It's a great way to put it. Scott Skipker joining us here from the Lock lockdown hawkeyes podcast as we talk about the new documentary premiering here tonight on wednesday evening as we speak the 24th but let's talk a little bit about how people can get this you guys are having a run in central iowa in the theater i'll fill people in though of course we have people not just across the stadium

across the state excuse me but everywhere where people can catch this documentary. If you're in central Iowa, you can go see it at the Palms Theater in Waukee. You can go ahead and search for the theaters and you'll find those run times. It's going to be running a couple of times a day from the 25th through the 31st. At this point, we are in talks. I can't announce anything at this point, but I can tease that we are in talks to have an Iowa City run sometime in September. So just follow me on social media

if you want to get up to date, if you are interested in seeing it in the theater. But I know now most people watch things streaming at home and we are using the wonderful platform of Vimeo. A lot of smart TVs already have the Vimeo app installed, pre-installed, but you can download that straight to your smart TV, or you can get it on your iPhone or any phone that you have, any smartphone. You just create an account. If you don't have one already, you'll be able to purchase the film for $19.99 and then stream it to your TVs through Yuruku or

Chromecast or whatever you use. And so you'll be able to watch that anywhere in the world if you want. And it is a purchase. So you'll own the film, be able to watch it as many times as you want. That's awesome. And looking forward to getting a chance to see this. I've seen the promo a couple of times. I've gone through and watched the trailer just because it lends that excitement. And of course, you hear the sound and you hear the voice and what we hear in Kinnick Stadium before every game, but they're just so much more into it.

Next, Scott, I want to go into, I'm a football player. He was a little guy, but it was also a different time period. We're talking about football being played, what, 80 plus years ago. So it was a different time. Is there a correlation to a player today that you would think about a horror i know football is so different he was running he was thrown he was doing everything and that's kind of what your best player bet did a football back there but you have a comp if you will in today's football environment uh not football but i'll go shohei otani okay now you know like nile just could do Okay. the halfback position, you can get away with that. He was very well built, solid. They, you know, they had talked about like when you could see him in his prime and without his shirt on, it looked like his chest was carved out of rubber. He was, but he was a really good passer of the football,

both right and left handed. He could obviously run the ball really well. He was the nation's leading punter his sophomore year. In the Notre Dame game in 1939, he punted the ball 16 times, which is still the Iowa record, okay? He was also the drop kicker, okay, who had the game-winning point drop kicking against Notre Dame. Oh, and can I throw this in for good measure? He also still holds the Hawkeye single season interception record that Disman King just tied a couple years ago. So he could do it all. And I just slipped up and said the cyclone thing there because his dad was, and he was also a drop kicker at Iowa State. Iowa State. And so when I was thinking of the drop kicking, I was thinking of his father who taught him. They had a barn in Adel where when you put the hay mow down, it was about the same height

as the goalposts were. And so him and his dad would just drop kick balls into the barn for hours at a time. And so Niall was just an all-around athlete. And back then, the substitution rule was that if you went out in a quarter, you couldn't come back until the next quarter. And so it was much more aerobic. And Nile had all the aerobics he needed. A lot of that credit goes to Coach Eddie Anderson, who ran the hell out of the guys in the lead up to the 1939 season, which is why so many guys quit. And they didn't have very many. And

almost all of them had to play both ways for 60 minutes, which is where the name Ironman came from. Scott Sipker, as we're talking about Niall, the documentary, Niall Kinnick, and I'm excited for this one. We talked about football. We talked about politics. You also mentioned talking about settling down. One interesting thing I heard you talking about in one of your interviews about a date he was on down in Kansas City, a bit of a ladies' man, a young man, we think of 1939. Well, Scott, when you and I were in college, it was a little bit different, certainly, but he's dating models.

He's living the good life. Nile was on the pursuit for a wife wife there's no doubt he enjoyed the attention uh he was a serial dater i mean he was out there trying to find the woman he was going to settle down with and yeah he and of course he was very popular for all the reasons he was going to be president he could have been president the same reason he did well with the ladies okay and he you know one of the my favorite stories is uh when he was on base in training in kansas city he was on a date with a girl and uh he lingered a little too long probably in the driveway and so he had to speed back to base and got pulled over for speeding. Luckily he was still able to make it to base on time for a curfew.

But, you know, I just love that aspect because we don't think of Niall being nervous going on a first date or, you know, like wondering like, should I kiss this girl? Like, is this like what, but that's how you relate to him. I mean, he's like us. And I just find it so charming and endearing that he had those experiences. And I did speak with one lady who's in her 90s who actually got to dance with Niall.

And she just said he was just the best dancer. And you could tell even now. And this is one of Niall's friends, girlfriends, right? So there was nothing romantic about it, but it was just like, you could tell Niall still left an impression. He was a man, even though he was a tad shy, who, when he walked into the room, you knew he was there. He had that type of magnetism to him. So we know the story. What led you down this path? What led you to tell this story, to put this as a documentary, where people, not just across Iowa, but across the country, get to know more about Niall Kinnick? Well, first, I just couldn't believe nobody's done

it before. Niall has a great story and grew up in such an interesting time, maybe the most interesting time in American history, and certainly up there with us. And then there's a practical approach. Like, I want to be telling stories. I want to tell them in film form, and I would love to bring Iowa stories to a national audience and make profitable film.

The only way for my career to continue on and to be able to tell these stories that I want to tell, like the Jack Trice story, the Duke Slater story, the Kate Shelley story, is for us to prove we can make a profitable film. And I looked at it and I was like, we have a great subject matter, a great character. We have a built-in audience. great subject matter, a great character. We have a built-in audience, not just Iowa Hawkeye fans, but we are a college football-crazed state. And even though this film was probably only 20 or 30 percent sports, it still appeals to that audience. And Niall is on the coin that

starts every Big Ten game. so he's a name that big 10 country knows and i think that especially now that big 10 country stretches all the way to california uh we have a pretty big uh audience that we can build into but knowing that i've always thought the reason i didn't move to los angeles to become an actor and a filmmaker is because i looked at the landscape here in i Iowa and I thought the greatest trampoline that I can have is the kindness and generosity of Midwesterners and Iowans specifically. And if they, I really think once people see it, it's going to connect with them, then I'd much rather stay here and deal with this weather instead of deal with the Los Angeles traffic. It's a good way to put it, Scott Sifter with us here. Hey, Scott, it's been a

lot of fun getting to talk a little bit about this film and what it's going to be. One more time for people, if they missed it earlier, how they can get involved both in Central Iowa with the theater and then also people across the state and across the country where they can catch it. It's going to be playing at the Waukee Palms Theater, August 25th, sorry, to August 31st. And it's available on Vimeo on demand tonight at August 24th at 6 p.m. Just search that on Google.

It'll take you there. And if you want to stay up to date with any other theatrical runs that might be added, just follow me on social media. I can promise you that I will be over the top in how much I will be talking about this documentary. Well, we'll hear from you a lot. Looking forward to it. Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it.

Somehow Siri just heard me make a reminder to set my calendar for August 24th. So I don't know if you heard her in the background, but she just started yelling at me, but thank you so much. I'm so happy to be on the Lockdown Podcast Network. You made it. You made it, Scott. You made it.

Hey, thank you. Scott Sipker joining us here. That will do it for today. We'll be back with you tomorrow with more Lockdown. Tomorrow, we talk about Iowa football, get into a lot of pieces. Nico Reganian, into him. What does that mean for the Hawkeyes?

We'll talk about that. Thanks for making Locked On, Hawkeyes, your first listen each and every day here. And don't forget about Locked On Big Ten. Nate Dickinson, each and every day, gets you locked on the Big Ten with Locked On Big Ten. Again, Locked On Big Ten, each and every day here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Also want to say thank you to BetOnline, the fastest and easiest way to check in on your bets. Find all your favorite sports events at the number one online source for odds, lines,

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That's BetOnline, where the game starts. So as we wrap things up here on a Wednesday edition of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, I do want to talk a little bit about what I mentioned, Nico Rigetti, that injury and the wide receiver concerns that continue for this Hawkeye team. It is a big time problem for them, a big time question. Now we've talked about Keegan Johnson, just his importance to this team as he's back, but how back is he? We saw the picture a week ago, it got people excited, but we continue to see reports that he's not exactly there and not going at a high, high level through practice. So that's a concern. You couple that with what's happening

on the other side. You have basically two scholarship receivers that are going through practice right now. It's going to be up to the walk-ons to step up in a big-time way. You're going to have to see a Nate Wedgson. You're going to have to see a Jack Johnson. These are going to be the guys, Alec Wick, that are going to have to step up, and they're going to have to play big-time minutes for this team this year. In a year where we anticipate they're going to take a step forward, in a year where we think this Iowa team is going to look a whole lot different offensively,

with no wide receivers or only a couple of scholarship receivers, it becomes a very, very scary situation. We'll get into that a whole lot more as the week progresses. Tomorrow, my buddy Jace will stop by. We'll do our Degenerate Hawkeyes Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast coming up tomorrow. We'll talk about some wagering lines. We'll get ready for the football season season getting closer and closer to kickoff. Thanks for joining us here today on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.