Herbert Lawrence Meeker (March 19, 1905 – December 28, 1960) was an

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. He played college football for

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

and 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 ...

(NFL) as a back for the

Providence Steam Roller The Providence Steam Rollers (also referred to as the Providence Steam Roller, the Providence Steamroller and the Providence Steamrollers) were a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football Leagu ...

in 1930 and 1931. He appeared in 20 NFL games, six as a starter. Meeker was born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, and played at

Lewis and Clark High School Lewis and Clark High School is a four-year public secondary school in Spokane, Washington, United States. Opened in 1912, it is located at 521 W. Fourth Ave. in the Cliff/Cannon neighborhood of downtown Spokane, bounded by I-90 to the north and ...

in the same city. He chose Washington State instead of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

and graduated in 1928 with a degree in journalism. Meeker worked at newspapers and at a retail butcher after his professional playing career ended. Meeker is the namesake of

Butch T. Cougar Butch The Cougar is the mascot of Washington State University. As his name indicates, Butch is a cougar. History Though the cougar was adopted as Washington State University's mascot in 1919 it was not until 1927 when a cougar cub was presented ...

, the mascot of the Washington State Cougars football team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeker, Butch 1905 births 1960 deaths Washington State Cougars football players Providence Steam Roller players Players of American football from Washington (state)