William Blake Miller (May 3, 1889 – January 9, 1987) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and coach. Miller played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Michigan Agricultural College (now known as

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

) from 1912 to 1915. He was selected as the captain of the 1915 team and a first-team

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

on the 1914 All-Western college football team. In November 1915, Miller was declared ineligible to compete further in intercollegiate athletics after it was revealed that he had played in two professional football games with the Detroit Heralds. After leaving college, Miller served as the head coach of the

Central Michigan Chippewas football The Central Michigan Chippewas are a college football program in Division I FBS, representing Central Michigan University (CMU). CMU has the 24th highest overall winning percentage of programs playing in NCAA Division I. The Chippewas have pla ...

team in 1916 and compiled a 1–5 record. In 1919, he returned to Michigan Agricultural College as an assistant coach responsible for the backfield. Miller also played professional football in the first two seasons of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He appeared in two games for the Detroit Heralds in 1920 and in three games for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

in 1921. Miller died in 1987 from injuries suffered in a fire at his home in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

at the age of 97. He was inducted into the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Blake 1889 births 1987 deaths American football ends Basketball coaches from New York (state) Central Michigan Chippewas football coaches Central Michigan Chippewas men's basketball coaches Coaches of American football from New York (state) Detroit Heralds players Michigan State Spartans football coaches Michigan State Spartans football players Sportspeople from Tonawanda, New York Players of American football from Erie County, New York