Jack Blott

Jack Leonard Blott (August 24, 1902 – June 11, 1964) was an All-American football center and place kicker for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1922 to 1923.

He was also a baseball catcher for the Wolverines from 1922 to 1924.

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."

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.

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.

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

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.” Another wrote that Blott “will go down into football history as one of the greatest centers ever produced at Michigan.” 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.”

Blott also starred as the catcher for the Michigan baseball teams from 1922 to 1924.

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.

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.” 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.

After an easy opening win against Case Institute of Technology (36–0), the Wolverines faced the Vanderbilt Commodores on October 13, 1923.

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.”

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."

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.” 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.

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.”

In June 1923, Blott was selected to be the captain of the baseball team for the 1924 season.

After a two-game Major League Baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1924, he worked as Michigan’s line coach from 1924–1933 and 1946–1958.

In a game against Iowa in 1924, Blott drove in three runs with a bases-loaded hit to right field, adding to his unpopularity in Iowa after his recovery of a loose ball in the end zone against Iowa in football the previous fall.

On April 21, 1924, the last game of a road trip through the South, Blott hit two home runs in a game marked by intermittent snow flurries.

The Wolverines beat the University of Cincinnati, 9-8, on the strength of Blott’s home runs.

“The heavy hitting of Jack Blott who raised two in the stands for home runs was largely responsible for Michigan’s runs.”

At the end of his three years of college baseball, he was "considered by many to be the best back-stopper in the Big Ten Conference."

In the spring of 1924, three major league teams made offers to Blott: the New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Miami University also tried to sign him as its football coach.

Blott received his degree from Michigan’s "literary school" on June 16, 1924, and immediately signed with the Cincinnati Reds.

He chose the Reds after turning down a contract offered by former Michigan coach Branch Rickey, manager of the Cardinals.

Blott reported to the Reds at the end of June 1924 “to become the understudy” of the Reds’ longtime catchers Bubbles Hargrave and Ivey Wingo.

Blott appeared in his first major league game on July 30, 1924 — just six weeks after graduation.

In all, Blott appeared in only two games, the second on September 3, 1924.

He had only one plate appearance and failed to get on base, for a career .000 batting average.

On the other hand, he made one putout and no errors for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

From 1934–1940, he was the head football coach at Wesleyan University.