Bruiser Kinard

Frank Manning "Bruiser" Kinard Sr. (October 23, 1914 – September 7, 1985) was an American football tackle and coach and university athletic administrator.

Kinard was born in Pelahatchie, Mississippi, in 1914.

His father Major Henry Kinard and mother Pearl (Wooley) Kinard were both Mississippi natives.

His father worked variously as a farmer, a laborer, and the proprietor of a lunch room in Utica, Mississippi.

Kinard began high school as a freshman at Rolling Fork High School and then played his sophomore through senior years at Central High School in Jackson, Mississippi.

The sheriff of Hinds County reportedly recruited Kinard, already an excellent football player, to move to Jackson and offered his father a job as a jailer to facilitate the move.

Kinard acquired the nickname "Bruiser" after tackling one of his teammates during a practice scrimmage at Central High School.

He was the president of the senior class, ranked in the top third of his class, and graduated in 1933.

Kinard had four brothers and two sisters.

Two of his younger brothers, George Kinard and Billy Kinard, also played professional football.

A native of Pelahatchie, Mississippi, he played college football for Ole Miss from 1935 to 1937.

Kinard attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), lettered for the Ole Miss Rebels from 1935 to 1937 and served as co-captain of the 1937 Ole Miss squad.

During his three years at Ole Miss, Kinard appeared in all 34 games and averaged 55 minutes per game.

During one season, he played all 60 minutes in nine games.

He was the first player from any Mississippi school to receive first-team All-American honors, receiving those honors in both 1936 and 1937.

With Kinard playing tackle, the 1936 Ole Miss team compiled a 9–3 record and played in the school's first bowl game, a 20–19 loss to Catholic University in the 1936 Orange Bowl.

During his junior and senior seasons, Ole Miss went 9–10–3, but Kinard nevertheless received recognition as follows:

Kinard was an above-average student at Ole Miss, president of the sophomore class, and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa.

Kinard was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the third round of the 1938 NFL draft and played seven years in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dodgers/Tigers from 1938 to 1944.

He was selected as a first-team All-Pro in six of his seven years in the NFL (1938, 1940–1944).

He graduated from Ole Miss in 1938 with a bachelor of science degree in commerce.

Kinard was selected by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the third round (18th overall pick) of the 1938 NFL draft.

He made $1,974 as a rookie, a sum that Kinard recalled "was a lot of money back then."

Even in 1938, Kinard was small for a lineman at 210 pounds, but he noted: "I had enough ability to offset my size. And my speed was a lot better than any of the linemen."

He was a two-way player known for making "crushing blocks" on offense and as a "smothering, dominant tackler" who made "stops all over the field" on defense.

Joe Stydahar, a fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee who played against Kinard, recalled: "The Brooklyn team used to have plays designed just for the blocking of Kinard. They'd get Frank out there against a defender and he'd just mow them down."

Kinard spent seven seasons with the Dodgers from 1938 to 1944 and developed a reputation as one of the toughest and most durable players in the NFL.

According to his Pro Football Hall of Fame biography, he "rarely needed a rest and near-60-minute performances were the rule, rather than the exception."

He appeared as a starter at tackle in every game for the Dodgers in 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944.

Kinard was also a regular on the NFL's annual All-Pro teams receiving first-team recognition from one or more selectors in six of his seven years in the NFL: in 1938 from the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA); in 1940 from the NFL, Associated Press (AP), United Press (UP), and International News Service (INS); in 1941 from the NFL and UP; in 1942 from the INS; and in 1943 and 1944 from the AP.

He received second-team All-Pro honors in 1939 from the NFL, UP, and PFWA.

During his seven years in the NFL, he missed only two games, those coming in the 1940 season after an opposing player stepped on his hand and gangrene threatened amputation of the hand.

With Jock Sutherland as head coach, the Dodgers ranked among the top teams in the NFL, finishing second in the NFL East with records of 8–3 in 1940 and 7–4 in 1941.

Sutherland left the team in 1942, and the club dropped to 2–8 in 1943 and 0–10 in 1944.

Although used principally as a tackle, Kinard scored 42 points for the Yankees, scoring touchdowns on receptions in 1943 and a fumble recovery in 1941, kicking a field goal in 1943, and converting 27 of 30 extra-point kicks.

After the Dodgers winless 1944 season, Kinard enlisted in the United States Navy in April 1945.

After missing the 1945 NFL season due to wartime service in the United States Navy, he played two years in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the New York Yankees from 1946 to 1947 and was selected as a first-team All-AAFC player in 1946.

He served until March 1946.

Kinard also served as an assistant coach for New York Yankees in 1947 and for the Ole Miss football program from 1948 to 1970, as Ole Miss' athletic director from 1971 to 1973, and as its assistant dean of student personnel from 1974 until 1978.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1951 and into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.