Hall of Fame Coach Bob Blackman Dies at 81

Bob Blackman, a Hall of Fame football coach at Dartmouth, Illinois and Cornell, by way of Southern California, died Friday at Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, Calif., of complications of an infection.

Blackman, 81, was stricken while traveling in Singapore. He was thought well enough to return home to Hilton Head, S.C., but on the return flight was stricken again and the plane made an emergency landing in San Francisco.

Blackman began his coaching career as a student at USC after his own promising playing career was derailed by polio when he was a freshman. He served as a student assistant there, then, after graduation, coached naval base teams during World War II. Returning to the Southland after the war, he coached at Monrovia High, then at Pasadena City College, where his 1951 team won the national junior college championship and beat Tyler (Texas) in the Junior Rose Bowl.

After three years at the University of Denver, Blackman took over Dartmouth’s program in 1955. In 16 seasons at the New Hampshire school, Dartmouth won four Ivy League titles and tied for three more.

Blackman coached at Illinois from 1971-76, then finished his career with a six-year stint at Cornell. After retirement, he was affiliated with the East-West Shrine game and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.