The widely-acclaimed film about football legend Nile Kinnick, Iowa’s only Heisman Trophy winner, will be shown at the Webster Theater on Monday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m.

Webster Theater Manager Ann McLaughlin was watching local news on Aug. 24, the night the film premiered at the Palms Theater in Waukee.

“I saw they were doing the premier and I thought it might go over well in Webster City,” McLaughlin explained. “I hope everybody will come out and enjoy it.”

Adel native Nile Kinnick was an undersized halfback and defensive back who led the Iowa Hawkeyes to a 6-1-1 record during his senior year in 1939. He was directly involved in 107 of Iowa’s 130 points that season and had eight interceptions. After being named Big Ten MVP and capturing the Walter Camp and Maxwell awards, Kinnick won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top college football player. He then rejected lucrative offers to play professionally, instead enrolling in law school at Iowa.

He joined the Naval Air Reserve in 1941 and trained to be a fighter pilot. On June 2, 1943, he crash-landed his plane at sea and was killed.

Producer Scott Siepker worked for 10 years to bring Kinnick’s story to the big screen.

“I knew the bullet points being a kid who grew up in a small town (Carroll) and raised as a Hawkeyes fan. But I didn’t know what was between all those bullet points.”

Siepker says Kinnick’s family carefully curated hundreds of letters to and from the football star and gave them to the University of Iowa in 1959. The Nile Kinnick Collection, as it is now known, is used throughout the film.

“I’ve never gotten to know somebody through their letters the way that I got to know Nile. They bring Nile to life. Because he was such an eloquent writer you really feel you know the authentic Nile Kinnick through his words,” Siepker said. “In this 90-minute film, for 87 of the minutes you’re going to learn something new about Nile.”

Siepker, whose next project will be a documentary on Iowa State football player Jack Trice, is adamant that Kinnick’s story isn’t just for Hawkeyes fans.

“We set out not to have this be a rah-rah Hawkeye film,” he explained. “It’s not even really a sports documentary. It’s about an inspirational person who, yes, did have great athletic talent, but used that talent to rise above. Whether you’re a sports fan or not you get a real sense of the power of Nile Kinnick’s teachings, and also the sadness of what was lost when he wasn’t even able to make it to his 25th birthday.”

Siepker says the film’s reception has been better than he and his team would’ve imagined.

“I wasn’t expecting us to have any sort of a theatrical run. Now we’re in our fourth week of it being in theaters across the state. People have been breaking out in applause at the end of the film,” he said. “It just makes me feel so lucky to have been associated with this project. People are taken aback by Nile’s story and are touched by it.”

McLaughlin hasn’t seen the documentary yet.

“I may have to be watching from the back of the theater, but I’ll be watching it along with everyone else. Whether you’re an Iowa fan or an Iowa State fan, come see a documentary about a really, really good guy.”

Tickets are $4 for adults and $3 for children.

According to McLaughlin, Kendall Young Library, Seneca Foundry, and the Daily Freeman-Journal will sponsor the first 125 people at the door with free admission. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m.