'The Ironmen' movie is moving closer to reality after the announcement that University of Iowa graduate Nicholas Meyer will write the screenplay. He's previously written and directed two Star Trek movies, among his many credits.

Meyer's subjects are the stuff of legend, featuring Iowa's only Heisman Trophy winner, Nile Kinnick. The 1939 Heisman winner played all but 18 minutes that Iowa was on the field that season. His team was full of "ironmen," by necessity.

Eddie Anderson was the first-year head coach of the State University of Iowa in 1939. When spring practice started, more than 85 young men showed up. Anderson's practices were tough. Very tough. When the 1939 season actually kicked off that fall, only 37 donned the Iowa uniform. Sixteen different players were on the field for every minute of at least one game during the season. It worked. The Ironmen would go 6-1-1 and finished the season ranked in the top ten. Iowa had been 2-13-1 the previous two seasons.

The movie will be based on the 2008 book, NILE. It traces Kinnick's life from high school in Adel, Iowa through his Iowa career, to his tragic death in the U.S. Navy in June of 1943. Plans call for some of the movie to be filmed in Iowa City, perhaps during the 2019 season.

This is one movie I will not miss. How 'bout you?

The Ironmen Movie, Facebook
The Ironmen Movie, Facebook
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