Ricky Darnell Blake (born July 15, 1967) is a former

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 wit ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. He also was a member of the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play their h ...

, San Antonio Riders, Fort Worth Cavalry and Barcelona Dragons. He played college football at Northwest Mississippi Community College.

Early years

Blake attended Lincoln County High School, where he played

. He graduated as the school's All-time leading rusher. He enrolled at Northwest Mississippi Community College. As a sophomore in 1987, he set a school record by averaging 166.7 rushing yards-per-game during the season, receiving first-team NJCAA All-American honors. He transferred to

Alabama A&M University Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marsh ...

, but left before the start of the 1988 season, after the football coaching staff was fired.

Professional career

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

. He did not play until the 11th game against the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

, tallying 20 carries for 92 yards. He then started all six of the games he played over the final eight weeks of the season. In the 14th game against the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

, he registered 17 carries for 107 yards. He finished second on the team behind Tim Jessie, with 81 carries for 354 yards (4.4-yard avg.) and one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

. Blake injured an ankle before the start of the 1990 season, and due to a limit on the number of American players on the team rosters, he never regained his job. In 1990, he played for a semi-professional football team in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

, he played in the inaugural season of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of t ...

. He was the starting

for the San Antonio Riders. He appeared in 9 games, finishing third in the league with 554 rushing yards. He set a single-game league record with 140 rushing yards against the Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks on April 15. He also was the first

in the league to wear the helmet camera, which was worn by the

quarterbacks The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Amer ...

. He was given the nickname "Amtrak" because of his running style, finishing with 120 carries for 554 yards (4.6-yard avg.) and 5

s. In

, he spent two weeks in the

training camp, before leaving for the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

. On July 18,

, he was signed as a

by the

. He spent the first 4 weeks of the season on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

with a neck injury. He was activated on September 25 to be the backup behind

Emmitt Smith Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. Among other accolades, he is the le ...

. He had six carries for 38 yards against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

, including a 30-yard touchdown run on his first

carry. Against the

Phoenix Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

, he posted a season-high nine carries for 42 yards, but suffered a career-threatening right hip fracture (he sheared the leg bone from the hip socket) on the last play of the game. He was placed on the

, finishing with 15 carries for 80 yards (second on the team), a 5.3-yard average (led the team) and one

. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

, he missed the first 6 games of the season, because his broken hip was not fully healed. On October 19, he was waived after not being able to regain his previous form and his comeback attempt was also complicated by thyroid problems. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, he signed with the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

. He was released on August 26. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

, he signed with the Fort Worth Cavalry of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, to play as a fullback/

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

. He was a backup player, rushing 4 times for 12 yards (3.0-yard avg.) and had one tackle. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, he played for the Barcelona Dragons in the

. In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

, he was drafted by the Dragons, but did not make the team. In

, he was signed by the St. Louis Rams as a

. He was released in August. From 2002 to 2016, he played for the Colorado Wildcats in the Federal Indoor Football League. He finished as the league's leader, in rushing yards, attempts, touchdowns, all-purpose yardage, scoring (non kicker) as well as receptions and receiving yardage by a

. He was named to the National Conference All Pro Team in 6 consecutive seasons (2004-2009). He received the league MVP Award in 2006. He contributed to the team having 2 consecutive FIFL Bowl wins (2005 and 2006) and was the FIFL Bowl MVP in 2006. He was named Offensive Player of the Game 48 times and Offensive Player of the Week 7 times.

Personal life

His younger brother Eddie Blake, played

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

and was selected by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

in the second round the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott ...

. Eddie also was a member of the

of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Ricky 1967 births Living people People from Fayetteville, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee American football running backs Northwest Mississippi Rangers football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players San Antonio Riders players Dallas Cowboys players Fort Worth Cavalry players Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe) players