Red Blaik biography

 Red Blaik biography

 Red Blaik, byname of Earl Henry Blaik, (born February 15, 1897, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.—died May 6, 1989, Colorado Springs, Colorado), American school gridiron soccer coach whose groups compiled a 166–48–14 file throughout his tenures as head coach at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and on the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Blaik was an outstanding athlete at Miami University in Ohio and at West Point, the place he turned an All-American finish whereas enjoying for Army (1918–19). After resigning his military fee within the cavalry (1922), he briefly entered an actual property enterprise earlier than returning to West Point as an assistant coach in 1927. As the pinnacle coach at Dartmouth (1934–40), Blaik led his groups to a forty five–15–4 file, together with a 21-game profitable streak.

His teaching profession at Army (1941–58) yielded a exceptional 121–33–10 file and two consecutive nationwide championships (1944–45). The championship groups had been two of probably the most dominant groups in school soccer historical past, owing partially to the manpower scarcity at nonmilitary faculties through the conflict years. Blaik, along with Fritz Crisler of Michigan, was a powerful advocate for two-platoon soccer (wherein gamers had been assigned solely to both the offensive or the defensive unit) as substitution guidelines had been fiercely debated within the years following the conflict. In 1951 his 45-man group was lowered to 1 participant when the opposite members, together with his son, had been found to be dishonest on checks and had been dismissed from West Point for violation of the honour code.

Blaik wrote You Have to Pay the Price (1960) and The Red Blaik Story (1974). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1964. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1986.