Ex-Army Coach Earl Blaik Dead : The Man Who Coached Davis and Blanchard Was 92

Earl (Red) Blaik, who coached running backs Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard and transformed Army into a football power in the 1940s, is dead at the age of 92.

“He contributed immensely to football, West Point and the country,” Army Coach Jim Young said of Blaik, who died late Friday night at a nursing home. “He will be remembered as one of the greatest coaches of all time and one of the outstanding leaders.”

Blaik was in ill health in recent years and made his final visit to West Point last year to dedicate a monument at Holleder Center.

Blaik compiled a record of 121-33-10 from 1941 to 1958. He guided Army to unbeaten and untied seasons in 1944 and ‘45, when the Cadets won consecutive national titles behind the razzle-dazzle play of Blanchard and Davis--”Mr. Inside” and “Mr. Outside,” respectively--and again in 1949. Blanchard won the Heisman Trophy in 1945, and Davis took it the following year.

“Col. Blaik was admired and respected by all his players and everyone who came in contact with him,” said Davis, who lives in La Quinta, Calif. “He led a rich, full and exciting life and was a great example for all of us, and I’ll miss him a great deal.”

The Cadets, who were also undefeated but tied in 1946, 1948 and 1958, won 25 straight games in 1944-46. They lost to Columbia by a point in the fifth game of the 1947 season after 32 games without a defeat. They also had a 28-game unbeaten streak, with two ties, from 1947 to 1950. From 1944 through 1950 the Cadets lost only three games and tied three others of 63 played.

Blaik, who graduated from West Point, was an assistant coach there before taking the head football coaching position at Dartmouth in 1934, where he compiled a 45-15-4 record.

Blaik, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio, entered West Point in 1918 and lettered in football, baseball and basketball. After being commissioned in 1920, he served at Ft. Riley, Kan., and later at Ft. Bliss, Tex., with the Eighth Cavalry. He resigned in 1922 and returned to Dayton to work in real estate and contracting.

In 1927, he became a civilian assistant coach at West Point, holding that post through the 1933 season.

After his Dartmouth stint, Blaik inherited an Army program in disarray and turned it around almost immediately. He took a team that finished 1-7-1 in 1940 to a 5-3-1 mark in ’41.

Blaik’s most trying time at West Point occurred in 1951, when 90 cadets, including his son, were dismissed for cheating. Blaik considered retirement but was persuaded not to leave by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

“Earl, you must stay on,” MacArthur said. “Don’t leave under fire.”

He didn’t. Blaik, who lost 37 players to the cheating scandal, rebuilt the Army program again, retiring after the 1958 season, when Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins paced the Cadets to their last unbeaten season.

When he retired, Blaik had developed 29 All-American players, and 15 of his coaching assistants went on to become head coaches. In 1964, Blaik was named to the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame, and two years later he received the foundation’s Gold Medal Award.

At that time, he explained what football meant to him: “If it is the game most like war, it is also a game most like life, for it teaches young men that work, sacrifice, selflessness, competitive drive, perseverance and respect for authority are the price one pays to achieve goals worthwhile.”

Blaik will be buried at West Point next to his late wife, where a football-shaped tombstone has been erected. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.