Kinnick Times Two

July 11, 2006

The renovation of Kinnick continues…and so does the planning and preparation of a once-in-a-lifetime event that celebrates the legendary Corn Belt Comet, Nile Kinnick, Iowa’s Heisman Trophy Award winner.

The UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has teamed with Iowa City’s Riverside Theatre to create a new theatrical production to be performed at the UI’s award-winning Hancher Auditorium in celebration of the rededication of historic Kinnick Stadium, the home of the nationally ranked University of Iowa football team.

Kinnick imagines a live, old-time radio broadcast honoring the UI’s lone Heisman Trophy award-winner, Nile Kinnick, shortly after his tragic death. It juxtaposes scenes recreated from Kinnick’s own diaries and letters with extravagant commentaries from sportscasters and gossip columnists of the time interspersed with singing gingles and advertisements as well as images and popular music from the period. The original script is by Riverside Theatre co-founder, Bruce Wheaton.

This once-in-a-lifetime look at arguably the state of Iowa’s most memorable citizen and the University of Iowa’s most distinguished student-athlete is a must-see for young and old fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes and the University of Iowa.

“It’s the perfect complimentary event to what promises to be an exciting weekend for friends and fans of the University of Iowa and our football program. It offers fans of the Hawkeyes of all ages the unique opportunity to learn about the person whose name is on our football stadium and life in Iowa, the United States and the world in the late 1930s,” said Rick Klatt, associate athletics director for external affairs.

Tickets to the production of Kinnick are now available for purchase through the Hancher Auditorium box office. You can order yours online by clicking HERE or by calling (319) 335-1160 or 1-800-HANCHER.

A Special Offer! Order your tickets for Kinnick before August 1 and you could be the winner of a pair of outdoor club seats inside the new press box at historic Kinnick Stadium. If your name is selected, you pick the game on the Hawkeyes’ 2006 schedule that you’d like to watch the action from high above the home of Hawkeyes!

Kinnick: The Play at Hancher
September 1 at 7:30 pm.
September 2 at 5:30 p.m.
September 3 at 2 p.m.

Tickets cost $30 for adults, $10 for students