Jack Blott

Blott in 1922

In 1922, Blott succeeded All-American and College Football Hall of Famer Ernie Vick as Michigan’s center. Reporters drew similarities between the two: "In the first place, they are of very similar build and Blott now weighs within two pounds of Vick’s playing weight. Both Vick and Blott played fullback in high school and came to Michigan without any experience in the line. Both learned to pass from center, a duty the importance of which very few spectators ever realize, with remarkable ease and within a short time both were unusually accurate."[1]

The 1922 team, led by All-American Harry Kipke, went 6–0–1 and finished in a tie with Iowa for the Big Ten Conference championship. The only blemish was a scoreless tie with Vanderbilt in the second game of the season. The Michigan defense gave up only 13 points during the entire season, outscoring opponents, 183–13.[2]

The 1923 Michigan team went 8–0 and outscored opponents 150–12. The Big Ten Conference ended up with two undefeated teams in Illinois and Michigan, and though the two teams did not play in 1923, Illinois was widely viewed as the National Champion in 1923. However, the Billingsley service ranked Michigan as the National Champions.[3]

One writer noted that the 1923 Michigan team lacked brawn, with the exception of Blott who was the “one man of ideal physical properties.” That writer also noted: “Blott, big and powerful, also has intellect.”[4] At the start of the 1923 season, Michigan's Coach Fielding H. Yost tried playing Blott at fullback, but quickly moved him back to center, with additional responsibility for kicking field goals.[5]

After an easy opening win against Case Institute of Technology (36–0), the Wolverines faced the Vanderbilt Commodores on October 13, 1923. The Commodores had held the Wolverines to a scoreless tie in 1922 and nearly did so again in 1923. The Wolverines won, 3–0, and Blott’s field goal from the 15-yard line was the only scoring.[6]

Blott in action during the October 20, 1923 game against the Ohio State Buckeyes

After the Vanderbilt game, Michigan went on to convincing wins over Ohio State (23–0) and Michigan Agricultural College (37–0).

In the Iowa game on November 3, 1923, Blott scored Michigan’s only touchdown in a close 9-3 win over the 1922 Big Ten champions. Blott’s score was described as “a very fluky touchdown, earned through the Blott’s quick thinking." One writer wrote: “When Jack Blott, Michigan’s star center, fell on a loose ball, in back of the goal line in the recent Michigan-Iowa game, he performed a feat which is rarely accomplished on the gridiron. Not only did it win the contest for the Wolverines, but it marked one of the few times wherein a center is credited with having scored a touchdown. ... Blott’s performance was all the more unique [sic] in that he passed the ball for Kipke’s attempted drop kick and then raced down the field ahead of any of the other players in time to drop on the leather as it bounded across the final chalk mark after having grazed an Iowa uniform.”[7]

Years later, Harry Kipke recalled the play this way: "Why was it a touchdown? Because, as the ball sailed over the scrimmage line one of the Iowa players touched it. ... Few spectators and not many of the players noticed it. But Blott did, and at least one official noticed it. That official promptly made his ruling and we had six very important points."[8]

However, in the second to last game of the season, an away game against Wisconsin, Blott “was carried from the field with a broken ankle.”[9] As a result, Blott was unable to play in the team's final game against Minnesota.

Blott was the only All-American selected from the 1923 team and the fourth Michigan center to be named All-American.[10] On his selection of Blott, Walter Camp wrote: “The middle of the line position goes to Blott of Michigan, whose passing this year has been the height of perfection.”[11]

One reporter wrote that Blott was in a class by himself at the center position and “an expert at placement goals, an almost sure thing from any angle or distance.”[12] Another wrote that Blott “will go down into football history as one of the greatest centers ever produced at Michigan.”[13] Despite having to replace All-American Ernie Vick, Blott’s play in 1922 and 1923 was “so good that Vick, despite his greatness, hasn’t even been missed.”[13]

Blott initially signed with Michigan on September 24, 1924, as an assistant football coach responsible for line candidates, concentrating on the center and guard positions.[30] He served as a line coach at Michigan from 1924 through 1933, including the Wolverines' National Championship teams of 1932 and 1933. He was the line coach during the freshman, sophomore, and junior years of Michigan's most famous center, U.S. President Gerald R. Ford.

In January 1934, rumors spread that Michigan assistants, Bennie Oosterbaan and Jack Blott, had interviewed for positions at Yale and other eastern schools. Yost expressed the hope that “his boys” would stay at Michigan,[31][32] and confidence that “when all the shouting’s over Bennie Oosterbaan and Jack Blott will both be right here.”[33] However, in February 1934, Blott accepted the head coaching job at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.[34][35] Blott was the head football coach at Wesleyan from 1934 to 1940. Blott also coached baseball at Wesleyan. During his seven years as head football coach, Wesleyan’s record was:

• 1934: 3–5–0
• 1935: 4–4–0
• 1936: 5–2–1
• 1937: 5–3–0
• 1938: 5–3–0
• 1939: 6–2–0
• 1940: 3–5–0 [36]

In 1938, following the resignation of Harry Kipke as Michigan's head football coach, there were press reports that Blott was being considered (and was Yost’s pick) for the head coaching job at Michigan, but the job went to Fritz Crisler from Princeton.[37][38]

At the end of the 1940 season, Blott announced he was retiring as head coach at Wesleyan to take a post with the Ford Motor Company in Detroit.[39] Blott worked in Ford’s personnel department for six years from 1940 until 1945.[40] In that capacity, he represented Ford in collective bargaining negotiations with the United Auto Workers.[41]

Blott from the 1948 Michiganensian

In February 1946, Blott was hired as Michigan’s line coach, this time working under Coach Fritz Crisler. He replaced Biggie Munn, who accepted the head coaching job at Syracuse.[40] He was the line coach for the undefeated 1947 and 1948 National Championship teams.

One Blott story that was picked up by the wire services in 1949 told of a husky Michigan lineman limping to the sideline, to be asked by Blott, “What’s the matter son? Legs bothering you?” When the player replied, “Yeah, the muscles are all sore along the back here,” Blott responded: “That’s strange, I was watching you. You couldn’t have got it from charging too fast; it must be from getting up so many times after that little guard knocked you down.”[42]

In his career as a player and coach at Michigan, Blott played on one National Championship team (1923) and was the line coach on four others (1932–1933 and 1947–1948). As a coach, he helped develop some of the school's all-time great linemen, including Chuck Bernard, Gerald R. Ford, Otto Pommerening, Alvin Wistert, and Robert "Brick" Wahl.

In December 1958, Michigan replaced head coach Bennie Oosterbaan with Bump Elliott and also replaced Blott as line coach. It was announced at the time that Blott would be kept on as “overseer of Michigan’s intramural program.”[43]

After 1958, Blott managed the U-M golf course and ice rink.[44] In June 1964, Blott died of a heart attack while mowing the lawn of his Ann Arbor home.[44] He was survived by his widow, Helen, and his daughter, Joanne.[44]