HOWARD “Red” BLAIR
Football Coach and Athletics Director, 1938-47
Inducted October 18, 1975
 
Howard Blair came to SMS after earning all-Big Ten Conference honors in football and basketball at Ohio State and in 1938 became the SMS Athletic Director and head football coach.  He quickly revived SMS gridiron supremacy, winning 30 games in his first four seasons as head coach.  SMS was 5-2-2 in 1938; 7-1-1 in 1939; 10-0-0 in 1940; and 8-3 in 1941.  The 1940 SMS team was one of the greatest in the school’s history, outscoring its opposition 279 to 28; rolling up a figure of 3309 yards in total offense that was to remain a single season SMS record until 1974; and winning the first MIAA conference grid title SMS had earned since 1928.  In his first year as athletic director, SMS teams combined to win the MIAA all-sports championship and it was under Blair’s leadership that the current SMS football stadium was built and opened for play in 1941.  Known in his era as one of the most popular coaches SMS had ever had, Blair played a brand of football innovative at that time with a style that was described as “razzle-dazzle and entertaining”.  At the height of his SMS career, his teams won 18 games in a row, a record which still stands.  A dozen of those 18 wins were shutouts and SMS recorded 20 shutouts in Coach Blair’s first 30 SMS victories.  The winning streak finally ended when the Bears lost 10-14 to Northeastern Oklahoma in 1941.  Leading 14-13 late in the game, SMS tried and recovered an onside kick.  The officials ruled the ball belonged to the Bears, but Coach Blair, from his vantage point on the sidelines, observed that the kick had not traveled the required 10 yards and gave the ball back to the Redmen.  Northeastern scored to take the lead and a late SMS touchdown was ruled to have come after time had run out and the Bears lost.  Despite the loss, Blair was hailed as a courageous and sportsmanlike coach.  During World War II, SMS athletic activity was suspended and Blair was troubled by health problems when he returned to coaching after the war.  He stepped aside from the coaching position after the 1946 season, having compiled an SMS career record of 39 wins, 20 losses, and six ties.  He died December 1, 1947.