And all seven of these men served in WWII. Nile Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy in 1939 at the University of Iowa, where the stadium is named in his honor. The Kinnick family also lost another son, Lt. Benjamin Kinnick, a B-25 pilot in the Pacific.
From Leora Wilson’s memoir: “So many young folks do not remember Nile Kinnick of Adel, Iowa–a great football player. He was lost in the Caribbean (Navy Air Corps) in W. W. II. And Bob Feller of Van Meter, Iowa, a baseball pitcher. Delbert and Donald of Dexter played against their teams during their high school years in the 1930’s. They both admired those two boys–what great players they were.”
Her middle son Dale, Wilson also played against Bob Feller in 1936. “Van Meter has the best ball team in the county,” Dale reported to Delbert and Donald, who had joined the US Navy two years earlier, “and maybe in the state. Bob Feller is their pitcher and he has already been wanted by some teams. We played them and they beat us 13-0 and didn’t even try.” Bob Feller became a major league baseball pitcher, known as “the Heater from Van Meter,” who took four years from his career to served in WWII. He was later named to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Leora Wilson would be surprised and blessed that her sons are honored on the same memorial stone as these two great athletes who also served in WWII. And that this Freedom Rock is in Minburn, not far from where, starting in 1939, Clabe Wilson and his sons were tenant farmers.
The Wilson brothers story. My journey of researching what happened to the three Wilson brothers who never came home.
The most recent issue (September 2024) of The American Legion Magazine has an article called “Crossed Paths in Adel,” about Nile Kinnick and Bob Feller, by historian Mike Chapman.
There are Freedom Rocks® in all of Iowa’s 99 counties, some in very small towns, as is the one in Minburn. The founder and artist is Ray “Bubba” Sorensen. One of his original goals was to create tourism. He certainly has, as individuals and families have decided to travel to see all of them. Most of them also include storyboards where you can learn even more history.
My dad, Warren Neal, was two years behind Delbert and Donald Wilson at Dexter. He also played baseball against pitcher Bob Feller and once scored a hit off him!