There's only one man from a Minnesota school who won the Heisman trophy, the highest award in college football. His name was Bruce Smith.

Bruce Smith came from Faribault, Minnesota, and across a life that included being a three-sport-athlete, a Navy fighter pilot during WWII, spending years with the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams, playing himself in a movie about his life, and even being nominated for sainthood, Bruce made an incredible impact. Tragically, he died of cancer in 1967, when he was still young. But his legacy in Faribault, his hometown, is still enormous.

Part of the reason why that legacy is still around is people like Bruce Krinke, who for more than 25 years worked in various capacities to memorialize and celebrate Bruce Smith's extraordinary life. In 2015, we sat down with Bruce Krinke for a discussion on the life of a hometown hero. Mr. Krinke was deeply passionate about community, about local history, and we owe an immense debt to him for all the support he showed us in our early years of making historical documentaries. Bruce Krinke passed away earlier this year, and in honor of his kindness and legacy, we're also releasing an interview with him which we conducted in September of 2016, in front of a live audience. We're grateful that we get to share some of our memories of him with you. 

We are Logan Ledman and Sam Temple. Over our six years of teaching classes, putting on plays, and creating documentaries, we have come to appreciate history for all of its incredible stories. On this podcast, we share our interviews with Bruce Krinke.

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