Robert Edwin Blake (January 31, 1885 – May 8, 1962) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's teams), 14 of which compete at the National ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. Every football season in which he played, Blake was a member of the

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

(SIAA) championship team and unanimously selected All-Southern. He was a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicito ...

and

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

. His three brothers, Dan, Vaughn, and Frank, also played on those winning teams. Dan, Bob, and Vaughn were captains of the

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, a ...

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship French cruiser Jean Bart ( ...

, and

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the '' Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 4 ...

Vanderbilt football teams respectively. He thus signed letters "Bob Blake, ''

pater familias The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (plural ''patres familias''), was the head of a Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his ext ...

''." Blake was later general counsel for the International Shoe Company, and married Dorothy Gaynor. Blake was also president of the Missouri Constitutional Convention in 1944.

Early years

Blake was born on January 31, 1885, in

Cuero, Texas Cuero ( ) is a city in and the county seat of DeWitt County, Texas, United States. Its population was 8,128 at the 2020 census. History The city of Cuero had its start in the mid-19th century as a stopping point on the Chisholm Trail cattle route ...

, to Daniel Bigelow Blake, Sr. and Mary Clara Weldon. Dan, Sr. was a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner ( Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through t ...

and once president of the Nashville Academy of Medicine. Bob Blake prepped at Bowen School.

Vanderbilt University

Blake was

’s first athlete to earn 16

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

, participating in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He stood 6 feet and weighed 170 pounds. While a senior, Blake was honored as Bachelor of Ugliness.

Football

Blake was a prominent end for

Dan McGugin Daniel Earle McGugin (July 29, 1879 – January 23, 1936) was an American football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again fro ...

Vanderbilt Commodores football The Vanderbilt Commodores football program represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football. The Commodores compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the East Divi ...

teams in

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...

and from

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony is ...

. He was also a punter and

drop kick A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player dropping the ball and then kicking it as it touches the ground. Drop kicks are used as a method of restarting play and scoring points in rugby union and rugby league ...

er. As a punter, one writer claimed others considered him "the best in the country." He was selected All-Southern unanimously each and every year he played, and Vanderbilt won the

(SIAA) championship in all of his years. In 1915,

John Heisman John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

called Blake one of the greatest players in Vanderbilt history, along with

Ray Morrison J. Ray Morrison (February 28, 1885 – November 19, 1982) was an American football and baseball player and a coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (1915–1916, 1922– ...

and Owsley Manier.

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice wa ...

once said about Bob Blake, “he was the only halfback who never lost a yard around right end.” A fellow student at Vanderbilt once said of Blake "He is an athlete and this has been one great factor in making him popular, but Bob Blake would have been a popular man if he had not been an athlete. In the third place he is interested in and takes an active part in every phase of college life. In the fourth place he has maintained himself well in scholarship, while not a brilliant student, he has, in my opinion, made a record above that of the average student." In the opinion of fellow Vanderbilt player

Honus Craig John Livingston "Honus" Craig (November 30, 1881 – April 18, 1942) was an American college football player and coach. Early years John Livingston Craig was born on November 30, 1881, in Culleoka, Tennessee, to Thompson Sloan Craig and Ella Cli ...

, Blake was the South's greatest player. Blake was chosen for an all-time Vandy team in 1912, and for an ''Associated Press'' Southeast Area All-Time football team 1869–1919 era.

1903

Both Blake and teammate John J. Tigert were

s. Blake broke his wrist in the Sewanee–Vanderbilt game.

1904 and 1905

Bob Blake did not play in

's first year of 1904, but resumed play on the 1905 team.

1906

Vanderbilt won a major intersectional contest in

when it defeated

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

4–0 via a single, 17-yard Blake drop kick, "the crowning feat of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association season." The score was 4 to 0, as field goals then counted for 4 points.

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vot ...

inductee Albert Exendine was playing for Carlisle.

Frank Mount Pleasant Franklin Pierce Mount Pleasant Jr. (June 13, 1884 – April 12, 1937) was a Native American football player, track and field athlete, and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He played college football at the Carlisle Indian Industrial Sc ...

missed four field goals.

1907

He made

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the syste ...

's All-America Honorable Mention in 1907, as well as the first team All-American selection of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

coach

Fielding Yost Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...

. Blake threw the pass to

Stein Stone James Nollner "Stein" Stone Sr. (April 18, 1882 – August 25, 1926) was an American football and basketball player and coach. "Stein" is the German for stone. Vanderbilt University At Vanderbilt he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternit ...

on a trick double-pass play which set up the score to beat Sewanee in

for the SIAA championship, which was cited by

as the greatest thrill he ever witnessed in his years of watching sports. Blake missed two kicks on a slippery field in the 8–0 loss to

Coaching

Gordon Institute

He assisted his brother Frank Blake in coaching at

Gordon Institute Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

in 1907.

Return to Vanderbilt

In 1910, Blake was awarded a law degree and returned to Vanderbilt for one season as an assistant football coach for Dan McGugin. The 1910 team shocked defending national champion

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

with a scoreless tie.

Montgomery Bell

He coached at

Montgomery Bell Academy Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. History MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It is the successor to two schools: the Western ...

in 1912.

Missouri

International shoe company

After practicing law in Nashville from 1911 to 1919, he engaged in business in

Saint Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. He was elected to the board of directors of the International Shoe company in 1921, and directed the company since 1929.

Missouri Constitutional Convention

Blake was president of the Missouri Constitutional Convention and awarded the "Man of the Year" award for Saint Louis in 1944.

Death

Blake died in St. Louis in 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Bob 1885 births 1962 deaths American football ends 20th-century American lawyers American Rhodes Scholars Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football players Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball players People from Cuero, Texas Players of American football from Texas All-Southern college football players All-American college football players American football drop kickers American football punters American football placekickers High school football coaches in Tennessee American men's basketball players