extra points, and three field goals. He led the NFL in field goals and field goal percentage in both 1940 and 1941. He also continued to excel as a punter, ranking second in the NFL in punting yards in 1939 and averaging 44.5 yards per punt in 1941. Hinkle's playing career was cut short after the 1941 season by wartime military service. He began his NFL career in 1932 at a salary of $5,000 and had his salary cut during the Great Depression, then restored to $5,000 in the late 1930s. He held out for and received $10,000 in his final season. He finished his career with 3,860 rushing yards, 537 receiving yards, 316 passing yards, and 379 points scored on 44 touchdowns, 28 field goals, and 31 extra points. Reputation for toughness Hinkle loved the intense physicality of football. According to one account, "Clark Hinkle loved contact. It didn't matter which side of the ball he was coming from, Hinkle loved delivering blows." Ken Strong, another Hall of Fame back of the era, remembered the force of Hinkle's tackles: "When he hit you, you knew you were hit. Bells rang and you felt it all the way to your toes." Another back, Johnny Sisk, said: "No one in the whole league ever bruised me more than Hinkle did. . . . Hinkle had a lot of leg action. I broke my shoulder twice tackling Mr. Hinkle." Hinkle's competition with Chicago Bears fullback Bronko Nagurski was especially memorable. Hinkle was the only player to knock Nagurski out of a game, and according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Hinkle's "creed was 'get to the Bronk before he gets to me.'" Hinkle cited a 1934 collision with Nagurski as his greatest day in football. He recalled: "I was carrying the ball and Nagurski charged in to make the tackle. WHAM! We banged into each other. Nagurski had to be removed from the game with a broken nose and two closed eyes. Strangely enough, I suffered no ill effects and was able to continue playing." Nagurski later called Hinkle the "toughest man I ever played against." In the book, "Pain Gang: Pro Football's Fifty Toughest Players", Neil Reynolds included both Hinkle and Nagurski on his list of the toughest players in the history of the game. Hinkle's toughness remained to the end. On November 2, 1941, in his final game against