for first place in the AAFC's East Division. The team then lost in the AAFC championship game to the 1946 Cleveland Browns. At the end of the 1946 season, Kinard was selected by the AP, UP, and AAFC as a first-team All-AAFC player. Kinard returned to the Yankees in 1947 and appeared in all 14 games, but in only three as a starter. Kinard was also an assistant coach for the Yankees during the 1947 season. He announced his retirement as a player in January 1948 at age 33. Honors and awards Kinard received numerous honors and awards for his accomplishments as a football player, notably including induction into the two major football halls of fame. He was inducted as a charter member into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, and in 1971 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Other significant awards and honors include: In 1949, he was named to the All-America Board's all-time football team, receiving more votes than any other tackle. In 1950, the Mississippian, the Ole Miss campus newspaper selected Kinard as the greatest Ole Miss athlete of all time. In 1953, he was honored by Ole Miss with a "Bruiser Kinard Day" in celebration of Kinard's induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Governor of Mississippi also declared a "Frank M. (Bruiser) Kinard Day" throughout the State of Mississippi. In 1955, he was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation's Helms College Football Hall of Fame. In 1961, he was inducted as one of four charter members into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame (along with Edwin Hale, Dudy Noble, and Stanley L. Robinson). In 1969, as part of football's centennial celebration, the Football Writers Association of America selected an all-time All-America team covering the sport's modern era from 1920 to 1969. Kinard was selected at the tackle position. In 1971, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame In 1986, Ole Miss inducted Kinard posthumously into the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame and also named its men's athletic dormitory as Kinard Hall in his honor. In 1993, as part of Ole Miss' celebration of its first 100 years of football, the school named its Ole Miss Team of the Century. Kinard was included as a defensive lineman. In 1999, he was one of 83 college football players named to the Walter Camp Football Foundation's All-Century team.