William Whitford Blackburn, Jr. (February 5, 1923April 17, 2007) was a professional

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 ...

player who played center for six seasons for the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

. Alvin Dark was a halfback and teammate of Blackburn with the Southwestern Louisiana Institute in 1944. He recalled that "the joy for me was running behind Humble and Blackburn. I'd never seen such blocking."

References

1923 births 2007 deaths People from Okfuskee County, Oklahoma American football centers Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football players Rice Owls football players Chicago Cardinals players {{offensive-lineman-1920s-stub