Anthony A. Blazine, Jr. (January 2, 1912 – July 3, 1963) 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 and coach. He played college football at

Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfor ...

from 1931 to 1934 and professional football 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 ...

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 ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

from 1935 to 1941. He played at the tackle position. He later served as an assistant football coach at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

(1944–1946),

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

(1947–1948), and

Washington State College 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 univer ...

(1949). He was posthumously inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 2002.

Early years

Blazine was born in 1912 at

Canton, Illinois Canton is the largest city in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,704 at the 2010 census, down from 15,288 as of the 2000 census. The Canton Micropolitan Statistical Area covers all of Fulton County; it is in turn, part ...

, and attended high school in Johnson City, Illinois.

Football player

He enrolled at

where he played college football at the tackle position from 1931 to 1934. In December 1934, he was named to the little All-America team, a team of top players selected with the aid of the Associated Press from the rosters of small college football teams. Blazine was also invited to play in the 1935

Chicago College All-Star Game The Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was a preseason American football game played from 1934 to 1976 between the National Football League (NFL) champions and a team of star college seniors from the previous year. It was also known as the C ...

and played 57 minutes in the game. After graduating from Illinois Wesleyan, Blazine played professional football in the

. He spent six seasons and appeared in 63 games at the tackle position for the

from 1935 to 1940. He was selected as a second-team All-NFL player in 1935 and appeared in the 1939 Pro Bowl. He concluded his professional football career appearing in 10 games for the

in 1941.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Blazine worked for several years as a football coach. By 1944, he was engaged as the line coach for the

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...

team under head coach

Ray Eliot Raymond Eliot "Butch" Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1934 to 1936 and at th ...

. In February 1947, Blazine left Illinois and was hired as the line coach for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers football The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the West Division of the Big Ten. Nebraska plays its home games at Memorial Stadium ...

team. In 1949, he was hired as an assistant professor of physical education at Washington State College and as an assistant coach for the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program co ...

football team. Blazine was an assistant coach at Washington State for only one season.

Later years

Blazine later became a partner in a sporting good store in

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby c ...

. He was married, and he and his wife, Christine, had three children—Barbara, Paul and Mary Frances. Blazine died at his home in Richland in 1963 at age 51. He was posthumously inducted into the

in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blazine, Tony 1912 births 1963 deaths American football tackles Chicago Cardinals players Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Illinois Wesleyan Titans football players Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches New York Giants players Washington State Cougars football coaches People from Canton, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois College Football Hall of Fame inductees