Ralph Heikkinen
Encyclopedia
Ralph Isaac “Hike” Heikkinen (May 14, 1917 – January 12, 1990) was an All-American
guard
for the University of Michigan
Wolverines
football team from 1936-1938. He was a consensus All-American in 1938, the first player from the Gogebic Range
area of Michigan
’s Upper Peninsula
to win the honor. His exploits were widely reported in the Upper Peninsula press, where he became a local hero. He played professional football for the NFL Brooklyn Dodgers
in 1939.
From 1940-1944, he was the line coach for the Virginia Cavaliers football
team while attending the University of Virginia School of Law
at the same time. After practicing law in New York for a time, he spent a year as a line coach and law professor
at Marquette University
in 1947. After leaving Marquette, Heikkinen worked as executive secretary and attorney
for Studebaker-Packard Corporation
. He later joined the legal staff at General Motors
(GM), retiring in 1978 after 20 years of service in GM’s legal department. Heikkinen also helped initiate and implement a corporation-wide alcohol treatment and education program at General Motors.
in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
, Heikkinen was the son of Finnish
immigrants, and grew up in Ramsay, Michigan, a heavily Finnish American
community in the Gogebic Range
area.
He attended A.D. Johnston High School, in Bessemer, Michigan
from 1933-1935. As a junior in 1933, Heikkinen was elected president of the student council
. Heikkinen was a superior student who graduated with high honors student, and finished third in his high school class academically. When a new library opened in Bessemer in 1934, Heikkinen was the first person to check out a book, A.B. Demille’s “Three English Comedies.” He was also an officer in the school's ROTC program, and received honors for his participation in the high school’s military, athletics and student affairs programs.
Despite weighing only 145 pound, Heikkinen won a spot on his high school
football team; his high school coach Robert Reihsen said he won a spot due to his aggressive play. Local papers reported that Heikkinen’s line play during high school was marked by hard tackling
and blocking. During his junior season in 1934, Coach Reihsen recalled Heikkinen played every minute of every game. Coach Reihnsen's team was known as the “Speed Boys,” and gave up only two points in the first four games, outscoring opponents, 65–2. In November 1934, Coach Reihsen took Heikkinen to Minneapolis
to attend his first Big Ten
football game, the Little Brown Jug
match between Michigan and Minnesota. Reihsen recalled that, after the game, Heikkinen said: “Some day I’m going to play in this stadium.”
. The Bessemer Herald noted: “It was no surprise to learn that Ralph Heikkinen of Ramsay has been awarded a University of Michigan Alumni scholarship, although only 50 high school seniors in the state can win the honor each year . . . Ralph is a very good student; he ranked third in scholastic standings in a class of 128 . . . Heikkinen was also an outstanding guard on the B.H.S. football team for two years and he intends to try out for the Wolverine freshman squad this fall.” The scholarship was renewed from year to year and covered Heikkinen’s tuition.
To supplement his income, Heikkinen worked eight-hour days in a Fort Dearborn plant during his freshman
year. The president of the Gogebic Range U-M Alumni Club later recalled that Heikkinen won his scholarship by passing a competitive examination. Of those receiving scholarships, Heikkinen was credited with the finest all around record of any undergraduate among the alumni scholarship students.
, who was 6 inch and more than 250 lb (113.4 kg; 17.9 st). He was also described as “the stock atom,” and the “pint-sized” lineman. But Heikkinen viewed his size as an asset: “My size had been a help rather than a hindrance. It is easier for a small man to pull out of the line and run interference than a big one. I had no trouble out-charging big men; it was the small men who gave me all the trouble.”
However, Heikkinen did not win a starting spot on the 1936 team and was not even ranked among the top sophomore
guards on the team. At the end of the 1936 season, the highest praise Coach Kipke could muster was to call him “one of the better defensive linemen on the squad.” Assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan
said Heikkinen had “the right attitude,” and coach Wally Weber described him as “a hard worker.” However, the Michigan Daily
noted: “The only weakness of the Ramsay boy is his lack of speed. Speedy guards are needed to pull out of the line and lead the interference, and Heikkinen hasn’t quite shown that he is fast enough to move in Big Ten
competition as yet.”
. A fellow native of the Upper Peninsula
(Tamarack City, Michigan), Anderson played guard at Notre Dame
from 1919–1921 and was Knute Rockne
’s successor as Notre Dame’s head coach in 1931. In 1937, Anderson became Michigan’s line coach, and came to the conclusion during spring practice that Heikkinen was Michigan’s best football player. After a strong showing in spring practice, Heikkinen “hardened up” over the summer working at the Wakefield
Iron.
, 39–6, and Ohio State
, 21–0.
Heikkinen was the one bright spot in the Wolverines’ 1937 season. In early November 1937, Hunk Anderson
described Heikkinen as “the smallest but best lineman in the Michigan forward wall.” Anderson continued in his praise for Heikkinen: “Heik has shown the stuff in both of our tough games against Minnesota
and Northwestern
. . . Minnesota didn’t split our guards more than twice during the game. Heik was responsible for a lot of that. My conception of a good guard is one that stops anything that comes his way on defense and leads the blocking on offense. Heik has done just that. When we have the ball he is our fifth man in the backfield. He pulls out most of our plays and bowls over the opposition. We have made most of the gains through the line over his position.”
Heikkinen’s interception of a forward pass
proved to be the key break in a 7–0 win over Penn
. He also blocked kicks for points after touchdown
in one-point wins over Illinois
(7–6) and Chicago
(13–12). Without Heikkinen’s big plays against Penn, Illinois and Chicago, the Wolverines likely would have been 1–5–2 instead of 4–4. Even in a 21–0 loss to Ohio State
, Heikkinen blocked two kicks.
Described at the end of the season as Kipke’s “pride and joy,” Heikkinen averaged 50 minutes a game in 1937, and was the only Michigan player selected to the All-Big Ten team (UP first team; AP
second team). He was also voted by his teammates as the team’s Most Valuable Player
, an honor never before bestowed on a junior. And Hunk Anderson
noted, “if Michigan’s record had been better, Heikkinen would have made the All-America
. There isn’t a better guard
in the country; I don’t know another as good. Wait til next year.”
A Detroit
newspaper wrote that Heikkinen was the surprise of the 1937 season. “Heikkinen has no spectacular record as a high school player to show. He was a reserve guard last season and really just started to show up in spring practice this year.” The Bessemer Herald reported on the impressive turnaround of the first player from the Gogebic Range to be named All-Big Ten: “Heikkinen, one of the quietest and least boisterous men on the Michigan grid squad, has suddenly shot from obscurity into the Western Conference
hall of fame . . . From a lowly bench warmer last year, ‘Hike’ became one of the most consistent first-stringers this season. He played many if not more minutes than any other member of the squad.”
After the team’s 4–4 finish, Michigan dismissed Harry Kipke as head coach. Hunk Anderson, described by Heikkinen as the “greatest line technician in football today,” also resigned as line coach. Asked about rumors that players did not like Kipke, Heikkinen said those reports were probably originated by disgruntled players who did not make the squad or were in other ways dissatisfied. However, just over a year later, in February 1939, Heikkinen led the opposition when Kipke ran for the University’s Board of Regents and campaigned actively for Kipke’s opponent.
during the summer of 1938 in Gogebic and Ontonagom Counties. He was the Upper Peninsula field representative for gubernatorial candidate Harry S. Toy in 1938, traveling more than 16,000 miles over the course of the summer.
, and sophomores Forest Evashevski
and Tom Harmon
joining the varsity squad, the Wolverines began to turn things around. They finished with a 6–1–1 record and were ranked #16 in the final AP
poll.
Harmon and Evashevski made immediate contributions, but Heikkinen was once again voted the team’s Most Valuable Player. Having been the first junior to win the award in 1937, he became the first player to receive the award twice in 1938. Though line coach Hunk Anderson did not return in 1937, Michigan hired Clarence “Biggie” Munn
to replace him. Munn was a unanimous All-American guard for Minnesota
in 1931. Under the new coaching staff of Crisler and Munn, Heikkinen became one of the best college football players in the country. After the 1938 season, Heikkinen credited Crisler and Munn for his development. Heikkinen noted that Michigan linemen were taught not to depend on sheer strength. "We have not been taught to rear up and hurl back the opposition. We have not been taught to roll it back by power. We have been schooled to out-block and out-trick the other side. Our method is to be alert. We try to catch the other fellows off balance."
Michigan won the first game of the season against Michigan State
, 14–0, and Heikkinen drew attention for playing 59 of 60 minutes in the game. The team's only loss was a close 7–6 defeat to Minnesota
in the third game of the season.
The fourth game of the season was a 45–7 win over Yale
. An Ann Arbor
newspaper reported that Gerald R. Ford, former Michigan center then serving as a scout for Yale, “tried to feed Hike a line . . . on how impossibly inferior” Yale’s team would be. According to the report, Heikkinen, “in his typically pungent manner, nipped Ford’s eulogies in the bud with some poignant remarks on who was trying to kid who and how.”
The 1938 Northwestern
game ended in a scoreless tie. Heikkinen led a goal-line stand that preserved the tie. Northwestern reached the 11-yard line on a 51-yard pass play. A penalty took the ball to the six-yard line. On first down, they drove to the five, then to the two, and then to the one-yard line for a first down. On first down with a yard to go, Heikkinen stopped Northwestern a foot short of the goal line. Heikkinen called time out and encouraged the players when the ball was on the one-foot line, and the Michigan team kept the Wildcats from the end zone in an impressive goal-line stand. In the Ohio State
game, his former coach Anderson said: “He was the fifth man in the Ohio backfield. He pulled out of the line to lead the Michigan interference, blocked, went down under punts, smeared Ohio running plays and what not!”
Detroit News sports editor H.G. Salsinger wrote: “He was Michigan’s outstanding player for the last two years. He was probably the best offensive guard Michigan ever had, and fitted perfectly into the new Michigan running attack. Fast and powerful, Heikkinen frequently blocked out two defense players. Heikkinen was the fastest charger in the Michigan line. He outmaneuvered opponents. On defense it was impossible to gain through his position, and he had a way of jamming opposing lines and making holes so that his secondary could break through and stop the ball carrier.”
Ann Arbor newspaper writer, Bud Benjamin, wrote about Heikkinen: “If ever a player deserved national recognition it is the brilliant Ralph Heikkinen, 180 pounds of inspired dynamite in a great Michigan line. . . . He came out of a small town in northern Michigan, Hike, did, a sandy haired, extremely reserved Finnish boy with an irrepressible urge to play football.” He played between 50 and 60 minutes of every game in 1937 and 1938 and not once was a timeout called on his account or a substitution made for him due to injury. “He was on his feet – active , explosive, dynamic --all the time.”
, the United Press, Grantland Rice
for Collier's Weekly
, the Newspaper Enterprise Association Service, the New York Sun
, and Chesterfield Cigarettes
as selected by Eddie Dooley.
Heikkinen received 226 points in the United Press poll, the fifth highest total in the balloting. The UP noted: “He dominated the voting for guards on ballots from the East, West, South and North. He has a trick on defense of jamming the opposition line and making a hole for a teammate to go through and get the ball carrier. On offense he excels in swinging out to lead the interference and often gets in two blocks on a play. Motion pictures of the Ohio State-Michigan game show Heikkinen jamming opposing linesmen back from one to three yards on almost every play. He is so good that professional teams have approached him, but he wants to study law.”
In announcing its selection, the Associated Press
noted: “An all-Big Ten guard for two years, Heikkinen tears down under punts, pulls out of the line to lead interference and tackles hard. He is Michigan’s first All-American in five years. A 60-minute performer, seldom fooled by intricate maneuvers, Heikkinen is regarded by Coach Fritz Crisler
as the finest guard he has ever seen.” The NEA said: “Ralph Heikkinen, Michigan senior and Ramsay, was small as guards go. He stood only five feet eight and weighed 182 pounds but he was the fastest guard in the Big Ten . . . one of the best Fritz Crisler
ever saw. He had a great offensive charge. A corking blocker, especially when pulling out of the line, he was chosen as the Wolverines’ most valuable player in 1937.” Another reporter described Heikkinen as “Michigan’s 182-pound dynamo,” who was “fast as a halfback, and possessing the quickest charge his coach, Fritz Crisler, has seen.”
In addition to the All-American honors, Heikkinen finished second in voting for the Chicago Tribune Silver Football
trophy as the Big Ten Conference
’s Most Valuable Player
. He was also chosen to play in the East-West Shrine Game
in San Francisco
on January 1, 1939. And in July 1939, Heikkinen was elected with 846,943 votes (fourth highest vote count of any player) to play in the annual game between the College All-Stars and the NFL New York Giants
. The Ironwood Daily Globe boasted that residents of Michigan’s sparsely populated Gogebic Range had accounted for 25,000 of Heikkinen’s votes.
with considerable vim and no little skill during his spare moments. He is completely unassuming, unusually quiet, and above all a real gentleman." In August 1939, Heikkinen was hired by a magazine to write a story on college football. Newspapers reported that Heikkinen was “collecting dividends on the reputation he made as a poet and writer as an undergraduate.” In 1937, Heikkinen was the subject of an article titled, “But He’s No Sissy.” The articles noted that Heikkinen “adheres strictly to a liquid diet” and drank a full quart of milk after every game as part of a special diet due to a stomach disorder.
to win All-Big Ten honors in 1938, and he topped that in 1939 as the region’s first All-American. His exploits were followed closely both during the summer and during the football season in the Gogebic Range’s newspapers, The Ironwood Daily Globe and The Bessemer Herald. When he was named an All-American by the AP, it was front page news, and the sports sections ran banner headlines. The Ironwood Daily Globe reported: “Football honors are coming so fast for Ralph I. Heikkinen . . . that it’s hard for range fans who have watched Ralph’s progress on the gridiron to keep up with the latest developments. The latest and greatest tribute came today with the releasing of the Associated Press
all-America team on which he was named for a guard position. Heikkinen has twice been named on the all-conference eleven and twice selected as Michigan’s most valuable player, the latter award never before having gone to a Michigan man two years in a row. There remains only one greater honor possible – that of being named to Grantland Rice
’s official all-America team.”
When he was named to the Grantland Rice team the following week, the Globe reported: “Heikkinen’s exceptional analytical ability on defense and his near-perfect blocking on offense this last season has gained him a position on every major all-star team chosen this year.” On December 8, 1938, the Globe announced that a banquet honoring Heikkinen would be held with “Hike” himself traveling north to attend.
In the week leading up to the banquet, the Globe published an interview with “Hike”’s high school football coach, Robert Reihsen. On the day of the banquet, the Bessemer Herald ran an editorial urging the city of Ramsay to name a street or park in Heikkinen’s honor: “Ramsay has never received the national publicity that its native son, Ralph Heikkinen, has brought to it this fall. By newspapers, magazines and radio the Gogebic range’s first All-American football star ahs brought renown to himself, his home town and his school. If Ramsay has any street, public building, park or athletic field, that are now without title, or the names of which can be changed, why not dedicate something to Ralph Heikkinen who has so nobly proved himself to be Bessemer township’s leading citizen for 1938? Other communities have done as much for their heroes. As far as the University of Michigan is concerned Heikkinen has already written his name forever on the athletic scroll of honor. He takes his place with a long line of All-American Wolverines. They are never forgotten at the Ann Arbor institution.”
At the testimonial dinner, Heikkinen’s six-year-old brother, Donald Heikkinen, was asked to name the greatest football player in the world and responded, “Ralph.” Donald offered that Ralph was best because he used “proper technique,” and found it difficult to choose his older brother’s greatest play because “there were so many of them.” Referring to the Ohio State game, Donald noted, “Ralph crushed through and smeared ‘em.” Heikkinen, or “Hike” as he was known to Yooper
s, was presented with a purse of $36 representing the No. 36 he wore for Michigan.
Heikkinen’s high school coach was the “toastmaster,” and the local school superintendent, E.J. Oas, said that Heikkinen is “not only all-American, he’s all man and all gentleman.” A nine-piece orchestra played, and led the community in singing. And the local American Legion
post presented him with a medal. The Bessemer Herald reported that “friends and admirers of Ralph Heikkinen . . . came from all parts of the Upper Peninsula last night to pay tribute to the football star.” The following day, he spoke to students in the assembly room of Bessemer high school where the school band gave a concert and Heikkinen was “given a boisterous welcome by the students.”
The Upper Peninsula press continued to report on Heikkinen’s every move, as he returned home shortly before Christmas, before heading west to play in the East-West Shrine Game
. On his departure for California, The Bessemer Herald said: “Ralph has made every major All America team in the nation this year. . . . Our nation has had many great men to emulate. The children of the Ramsay school not only have these in common with all others, but we have our own local hero who ahs gained national repute as a gentleman, scholar and last, but not least, a great athlete. To say that we are proud of Ralph is putting it mild. We feel that we are very honored to have had him as a student of the Ramsay school.”
The celebration resumed again in January 1939 when Michigan coach Fritz Crisler
accompanied Heikkinen back to the Upper Peninsula for another banquet. Filmed highlights of Michigan’s 1938 season, featuring Heikkinen, were shown at the banquet. Even in April 1939, Heikkinen’s appearances at banquets in the Upper Peninsula drew large crowds and wide press coverage.
In 1954, Heikkinen was one of the twenty initial inductees into the Gogebic Range Sports Hall of Fame.
of the NFL. Heikkinen had previously refused offers to play pro football, but the persistence of coach Potsy Clark, and Crisler’s assurance that a coaching job would be open for him in 1940, persuaded Heikkinen to try professional football. Heikkinen noted on signing, though, that he would definitely return to law school in 1940. It was reported that Heikkinen signed a contract for “at least $175 a game” with the Dodgers. Heikkinen was cut by the Dodgers after playing only three games.
When Heikkinen was released, one writer noted that Heikkinen “was perhaps the biggest disappointment among the highly ballyhooed players who came up this season.” Brooklyn’ coach Clark noted that that an “All-American man doesn’t mean a thing to us” in the NFL. Clark said: “Heikkinen weighed only 183 pounds and was pretty light for our league. He reported late and didn’t give himself a fair chance to show me what he could do. I just didn’t think he was in the right physical shape and mental shape.
The Upper Peninsula press disputed accounts that Heikkinen had not cut it in the NFL. Heikkinen’s friends said that Heikkinen asked for his own release in order to accept the opportunity to study law and coach football at the University of Virginia
. One Upper Peninsula paper reported: “Had Heikkinen wanted to, he still could be a member of the Brooklyn squad. However, the Dodgers moguls co-operated with Ralph and released him from his contract when he informed them of the Virginia offer.”
, where he also studied law. An influential alumnus of Virginia interviewed Heikkinen when the Dodgers played the Detroit Lions
and was instrumental in securing Heikkinen’s position with Virginia. Heikkinen worked as Virginia’s line coach from 1940–1944 and graduated first in his class from the University of Virginia School of Law
in 1944. Fellow Michigan All-American, Edliff Slaughter
, was also a Virginia coach with Heikkinen. During World War II, in 1943, Slaughter and Heikkinen turned from coaching to teaching aerial navigation at the University of Virginia Flight Preparatory School.
On March 3, 1941, Heikkinen married Margaret Jackson, in Davenport, Iowa
. In March 1947, Hekkinen was appointed line coach at Marquette University
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. Heikkinen was line coach under head coach Frank Murray
at Virginia and joined Murray again at Marquette. In between the stints at Virginia and Marquette, Heikkinen was a New York attorney. While serving as Marquette’s line coach, Heikkinen also carried a full teaching schedule as an assistant law professor on the faculty of Marquette law school. Heikkinen only stayed one year at Marquette, returning to the practice of law in New York in 1948.
After leaving Marquette, Heikkinen worked as executive secretary and attorney for the Studebaker-Packard Corporation
. He later joined the legal staff at General Motors
, retiring in 1978 after 20 years of service in GM’s legal department. Heikkinen helped initiate and implement a corporation-wide alcohol treatment and education program at GM.
In 1987, Heikkinen was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor. He died of heart failure in Pontiac, Michigan
at age 72. He was survived by his wife, Margaret Helen Heikkinen, and six children, Ralph Heikkinen, Jr., James Heikkinen, Pamela Ronci, Peggy Parisen, and Elizabeth Heikkinen, and Linda Heikkinen. His funeral was held at St. Paul Methodist Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
.
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Casper Whitney and published in This...
guard
Guard (American football)
In American and Canadian football, a guard is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team....
for the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...
football team from 1936-1938. He was a consensus All-American in 1938, the first player from the Gogebic Range
Gogebic Range
The Gogebic Range extends from Lake Gogebic to the Wisconsin border in the east. It is located at the far western tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the south shore of Lake Superior. It refers both to the range of mountains that runs along the route and to the surrounding communities that...
area of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
’s Upper Peninsula
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
to win the honor. His exploits were widely reported in the Upper Peninsula press, where he became a local hero. He played professional football for the NFL Brooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)
The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, because of financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks...
in 1939.
From 1940-1944, he was the line coach for the Virginia Cavaliers football
Virginia Cavaliers football
Virginia Cavaliers football is a college football program that competes in the NCAA Division I-FBS and the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
team while attending the University of Virginia School of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
at the same time. After practicing law in New York for a time, he spent a year as a line coach and law professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Marquette University
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
in 1947. After leaving Marquette, Heikkinen worked as executive secretary and attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
for Studebaker-Packard Corporation
Studebaker-Packard Corporation
The Studebaker-Packard Corporation was the entity created by the purchase of the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, in 1954.Packard acquired Studebaker in the transaction...
. He later joined the legal staff at General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
(GM), retiring in 1978 after 20 years of service in GM’s legal department. Heikkinen also helped initiate and implement a corporation-wide alcohol treatment and education program at General Motors.
Youth in the Upper Peninsula
Born in Hancock, MichiganHancock, Michigan
Hancock is a city in Houghton County; the northernmost in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, or, depending on terminology, Copper Island. The population was 4,634 at the 2010 census...
in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
, Heikkinen was the son of Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
immigrants, and grew up in Ramsay, Michigan, a heavily Finnish American
Finnish American
Finnish Americans are Americans of Finnish descent, who currently number about 700,000.-History:Some Finns, like the ancestors of John Morton, came to the Swedish colony of New Sweden, that existed in mid-17th century....
community in the Gogebic Range
Gogebic Range
The Gogebic Range extends from Lake Gogebic to the Wisconsin border in the east. It is located at the far western tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the south shore of Lake Superior. It refers both to the range of mountains that runs along the route and to the surrounding communities that...
area.
He attended A.D. Johnston High School, in Bessemer, Michigan
Bessemer, Michigan
Bessemer is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,914. It is the county seat of Gogebic County....
from 1933-1935. As a junior in 1933, Heikkinen was elected president of the student council
Student council
Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
. Heikkinen was a superior student who graduated with high honors student, and finished third in his high school class academically. When a new library opened in Bessemer in 1934, Heikkinen was the first person to check out a book, A.B. Demille’s “Three English Comedies.” He was also an officer in the school's ROTC program, and received honors for his participation in the high school’s military, athletics and student affairs programs.
Despite weighing only 145 pound, Heikkinen won a spot on his high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
football team; his high school coach Robert Reihsen said he won a spot due to his aggressive play. Local papers reported that Heikkinen’s line play during high school was marked by hard tackling
Tackle (football move)
Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....
and blocking. During his junior season in 1934, Coach Reihsen recalled Heikkinen played every minute of every game. Coach Reihnsen's team was known as the “Speed Boys,” and gave up only two points in the first four games, outscoring opponents, 65–2. In November 1934, Coach Reihsen took Heikkinen to Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
to attend his first Big Ten
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
football game, the Little Brown Jug
Little Brown Jug (football)
The Little Brown Jug is an earthenware jug that serves as a trophy awarded to the winner of the American college football rivalry game played annually by the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team of the university of Minnesota and the Michigan Wolverines football team of the University of Michigan...
match between Michigan and Minnesota. Reihsen recalled that, after the game, Heikkinen said: “Some day I’m going to play in this stadium.”
Heikkinen won an academic scholarship
In July 1926, Heikkinen won an academic scholarship to the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. The Bessemer Herald noted: “It was no surprise to learn that Ralph Heikkinen of Ramsay has been awarded a University of Michigan Alumni scholarship, although only 50 high school seniors in the state can win the honor each year . . . Ralph is a very good student; he ranked third in scholastic standings in a class of 128 . . . Heikkinen was also an outstanding guard on the B.H.S. football team for two years and he intends to try out for the Wolverine freshman squad this fall.” The scholarship was renewed from year to year and covered Heikkinen’s tuition.
To supplement his income, Heikkinen worked eight-hour days in a Fort Dearborn plant during his freshman
Freshman
A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
year. The president of the Gogebic Range U-M Alumni Club later recalled that Heikkinen won his scholarship by passing a competitive examination. Of those receiving scholarships, Heikkinen was credited with the finest all around record of any undergraduate among the alumni scholarship students.
Heikkinen’s diminutive stature
When Heikkinen graduated from high school, he weighed only 155 lb (70.3 kg; 11.1 st) and was thought too light to play Big Ten football. His height was reported variously as 5 inch, 5 inch, and 5 inch. Heikkinen was described by the Detroit News as a “pigmy” compared to Michigan’s last great guard, Albert BenbrookAlbert Benbrook
Albert "Benny" Benbrook was an American football guard who played for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1908-1910. He was chosen by Walter Camp as an All-American in 1909 and 1910 and was the team’s captain in 1910...
, who was 6 inch and more than 250 lb (113.4 kg; 17.9 st). He was also described as “the stock atom,” and the “pint-sized” lineman. But Heikkinen viewed his size as an asset: “My size had been a help rather than a hindrance. It is easier for a small man to pull out of the line and run interference than a big one. I had no trouble out-charging big men; it was the small men who gave me all the trouble.”
Freshman and sophomore years
Heikkinen did not excel on the freshman team, but was invited by Coach Harry Kipke to spring practice in 1936 to try out for the varsity team. In April 1936, the people back in Bessemer gave Heikkinen a vote of confidence; the school board approved a $55 payment to Heikkinen as “advance payment” for some form of employment to be given “during the coming summer months.”However, Heikkinen did not win a starting spot on the 1936 team and was not even ranked among the top sophomore
Sophomore
Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...
guards on the team. At the end of the 1936 season, the highest praise Coach Kipke could muster was to call him “one of the better defensive linemen on the squad.” Assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan
Bennie Oosterbaan
Benjamin Gaylord "Bennie" Oosterbaan was a three-time first team All-American football end for the Michigan Wolverines football team, two-time All-American basketball player for the basketball team and an All-Big Ten Conference baseball player for the baseball team...
said Heikkinen had “the right attitude,” and coach Wally Weber described him as “a hard worker.” However, the Michigan Daily
Michigan Daily
The Michigan Daily is the daily student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other student groups, but shares a university building with other...
noted: “The only weakness of the Ramsay boy is his lack of speed. Speedy guards are needed to pull out of the line and lead the interference, and Heikkinen hasn’t quite shown that he is fast enough to move in Big Ten
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
competition as yet.”
Role of Hunk Anderson
The first person on the Michigan staff to believe in Heikkinen was Heartley “Hunk” AndersonHeartley Anderson
-External links:* *...
. A fellow native of the Upper Peninsula
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
(Tamarack City, Michigan), Anderson played guard at Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
from 1919–1921 and was Knute Rockne
Knute Rockne
Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history...
’s successor as Notre Dame’s head coach in 1931. In 1937, Anderson became Michigan’s line coach, and came to the conclusion during spring practice that Heikkinen was Michigan’s best football player. After a strong showing in spring practice, Heikkinen “hardened up” over the summer working at the Wakefield
Wakefield, Michigan
Wakefield is a city in Gogebic County in the US state of Michigan. It is located in the western Upper Peninsula. The population was 1,851 at the 2010 census....
Iron.
1937 season
In 1937, Heikkinen won the starting job at right guard, but the team finished 4–4, and were outscored by opponents 110–54. They were soundly defeated by MinnesotaMinnesota Golden Gophers football
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...
, 39–6, and Ohio State
Ohio State Buckeyes football
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...
, 21–0.
Heikkinen was the one bright spot in the Wolverines’ 1937 season. In early November 1937, Hunk Anderson
Heartley Anderson
-External links:* *...
described Heikkinen as “the smallest but best lineman in the Michigan forward wall.” Anderson continued in his praise for Heikkinen: “Heik has shown the stuff in both of our tough games against Minnesota
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...
and Northwestern
Northwestern Wildcats football
The Northwestern Wildcats football team, representing Northwestern University, is a NCAA Division I team and member of the Big Ten Conference, with evidence of organization in 1876...
. . . Minnesota didn’t split our guards more than twice during the game. Heik was responsible for a lot of that. My conception of a good guard is one that stops anything that comes his way on defense and leads the blocking on offense. Heik has done just that. When we have the ball he is our fifth man in the backfield. He pulls out most of our plays and bowls over the opposition. We have made most of the gains through the line over his position.”
Heikkinen’s interception of a forward pass
Forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...
proved to be the key break in a 7–0 win over Penn
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. He also blocked kicks for points after touchdown
Extra Point
Extra Point is a twice-daily, two-minute segment on ESPN Radio that covers generic sports-related topical news and opinion. The AM edition airs Monday through Saturday at various times between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET, and the PM edition airs Monday through Friday between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET...
in one-point wins over Illinois
Illinois Fighting Illini football
The Illinois Fighting Illini are a major college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They compete in NCAA Division I-A and the Big Ten Conference.-Current staff:-All-time win/loss/tie record:*563-513-51...
(7–6) and Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
(13–12). Without Heikkinen’s big plays against Penn, Illinois and Chicago, the Wolverines likely would have been 1–5–2 instead of 4–4. Even in a 21–0 loss to Ohio State
Ohio State Buckeyes football
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...
, Heikkinen blocked two kicks.
Described at the end of the season as Kipke’s “pride and joy,” Heikkinen averaged 50 minutes a game in 1937, and was the only Michigan player selected to the All-Big Ten team (UP first team; AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
second team). He was also voted by his teammates as the team’s Most Valuable Player
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
, an honor never before bestowed on a junior. And Hunk Anderson
Heartley Anderson
-External links:* *...
noted, “if Michigan’s record had been better, Heikkinen would have made the All-America
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Casper Whitney and published in This...
. There isn’t a better guard
Guard (American football)
In American and Canadian football, a guard is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team....
in the country; I don’t know another as good. Wait til next year.”
A Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
newspaper wrote that Heikkinen was the surprise of the 1937 season. “Heikkinen has no spectacular record as a high school player to show. He was a reserve guard last season and really just started to show up in spring practice this year.” The Bessemer Herald reported on the impressive turnaround of the first player from the Gogebic Range to be named All-Big Ten: “Heikkinen, one of the quietest and least boisterous men on the Michigan grid squad, has suddenly shot from obscurity into the Western Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
hall of fame . . . From a lowly bench warmer last year, ‘Hike’ became one of the most consistent first-stringers this season. He played many if not more minutes than any other member of the squad.”
After the team’s 4–4 finish, Michigan dismissed Harry Kipke as head coach. Hunk Anderson, described by Heikkinen as the “greatest line technician in football today,” also resigned as line coach. Asked about rumors that players did not like Kipke, Heikkinen said those reports were probably originated by disgruntled players who did not make the squad or were in other ways dissatisfied. However, just over a year later, in February 1939, Heikkinen led the opposition when Kipke ran for the University’s Board of Regents and campaigned actively for Kipke’s opponent.
Political campaigning in 1938
Heikkinen majored in political science and did political organization work for the Young RepublicansYoung Republicans
The Young Republicans is an organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization and chapters in individual states....
during the summer of 1938 in Gogebic and Ontonagom Counties. He was the Upper Peninsula field representative for gubernatorial candidate Harry S. Toy in 1938, traveling more than 16,000 miles over the course of the summer.
1938 season
In 1938, with Heikkinen returning at guard, a new coach in Fritz CrislerFritz Crisler
Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler was an American football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and defense. Crisler developed two-platoon football while serving as head coach at the University of...
, and sophomores Forest Evashevski
Forest Evashevski
Forest "Evy" Evashevski was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 and with the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks in 1942...
and Tom Harmon
Tom Harmon
Thomas Dudley Harmon was a star player in American college football, a sports broadcaster, and patriarch of a family of American actors...
joining the varsity squad, the Wolverines began to turn things around. They finished with a 6–1–1 record and were ranked #16 in the final AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
poll.
Harmon and Evashevski made immediate contributions, but Heikkinen was once again voted the team’s Most Valuable Player. Having been the first junior to win the award in 1937, he became the first player to receive the award twice in 1938. Though line coach Hunk Anderson did not return in 1937, Michigan hired Clarence “Biggie” Munn
Biggie Munn
Clarence Lester "Biggie" Munn was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator in the United States. He was the head football coach at Albright College , Syracuse University , and most notably Michigan State College , where his 1952 squad won a national championship...
to replace him. Munn was a unanimous All-American guard for Minnesota
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...
in 1931. Under the new coaching staff of Crisler and Munn, Heikkinen became one of the best college football players in the country. After the 1938 season, Heikkinen credited Crisler and Munn for his development. Heikkinen noted that Michigan linemen were taught not to depend on sheer strength. "We have not been taught to rear up and hurl back the opposition. We have not been taught to roll it back by power. We have been schooled to out-block and out-trick the other side. Our method is to be alert. We try to catch the other fellows off balance."
Michigan won the first game of the season against Michigan State
Michigan State Spartans football
The Michigan State Spartans football program represents Michigan State University in college football as members of the Big Ten Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level...
, 14–0, and Heikkinen drew attention for playing 59 of 60 minutes in the game. The team's only loss was a close 7–6 defeat to Minnesota
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...
in the third game of the season.
The fourth game of the season was a 45–7 win over Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. An Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
newspaper reported that Gerald R. Ford, former Michigan center then serving as a scout for Yale, “tried to feed Hike a line . . . on how impossibly inferior” Yale’s team would be. According to the report, Heikkinen, “in his typically pungent manner, nipped Ford’s eulogies in the bud with some poignant remarks on who was trying to kid who and how.”
The 1938 Northwestern
Northwestern Wildcats football
The Northwestern Wildcats football team, representing Northwestern University, is a NCAA Division I team and member of the Big Ten Conference, with evidence of organization in 1876...
game ended in a scoreless tie. Heikkinen led a goal-line stand that preserved the tie. Northwestern reached the 11-yard line on a 51-yard pass play. A penalty took the ball to the six-yard line. On first down, they drove to the five, then to the two, and then to the one-yard line for a first down. On first down with a yard to go, Heikkinen stopped Northwestern a foot short of the goal line. Heikkinen called time out and encouraged the players when the ball was on the one-foot line, and the Michigan team kept the Wildcats from the end zone in an impressive goal-line stand. In the Ohio State
Ohio State Buckeyes football
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...
game, his former coach Anderson said: “He was the fifth man in the Ohio backfield. He pulled out of the line to lead the Michigan interference, blocked, went down under punts, smeared Ohio running plays and what not!”
Detroit News sports editor H.G. Salsinger wrote: “He was Michigan’s outstanding player for the last two years. He was probably the best offensive guard Michigan ever had, and fitted perfectly into the new Michigan running attack. Fast and powerful, Heikkinen frequently blocked out two defense players. Heikkinen was the fastest charger in the Michigan line. He outmaneuvered opponents. On defense it was impossible to gain through his position, and he had a way of jamming opposing lines and making holes so that his secondary could break through and stop the ball carrier.”
Ann Arbor newspaper writer, Bud Benjamin, wrote about Heikkinen: “If ever a player deserved national recognition it is the brilliant Ralph Heikkinen, 180 pounds of inspired dynamite in a great Michigan line. . . . He came out of a small town in northern Michigan, Hike, did, a sandy haired, extremely reserved Finnish boy with an irrepressible urge to play football.” He played between 50 and 60 minutes of every game in 1937 and 1938 and not once was a timeout called on his account or a substitution made for him due to injury. “He was on his feet – active , explosive, dynamic --all the time.”
Selection as an All-American
Heikkinen was chosen as a consensus first-team All-American by more than 25 sports magazines, newspapers and wire services, including the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, the United Press, Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
for Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
, the Newspaper Enterprise Association Service, the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
, and Chesterfield Cigarettes
Chesterfield (cigarette)
Chesterfield is a brand of cigarette made by Altria. It was one of the most recognized brands of the early 20th century, but sales have declined steadily over the years. It was named for Chesterfield County, Virginia. Chesterfield is still being made today; it is still popular in Europe, but has...
as selected by Eddie Dooley.
Heikkinen received 226 points in the United Press poll, the fifth highest total in the balloting. The UP noted: “He dominated the voting for guards on ballots from the East, West, South and North. He has a trick on defense of jamming the opposition line and making a hole for a teammate to go through and get the ball carrier. On offense he excels in swinging out to lead the interference and often gets in two blocks on a play. Motion pictures of the Ohio State-Michigan game show Heikkinen jamming opposing linesmen back from one to three yards on almost every play. He is so good that professional teams have approached him, but he wants to study law.”
In announcing its selection, the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
noted: “An all-Big Ten guard for two years, Heikkinen tears down under punts, pulls out of the line to lead interference and tackles hard. He is Michigan’s first All-American in five years. A 60-minute performer, seldom fooled by intricate maneuvers, Heikkinen is regarded by Coach Fritz Crisler
Fritz Crisler
Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler was an American football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and defense. Crisler developed two-platoon football while serving as head coach at the University of...
as the finest guard he has ever seen.” The NEA said: “Ralph Heikkinen, Michigan senior and Ramsay, was small as guards go. He stood only five feet eight and weighed 182 pounds but he was the fastest guard in the Big Ten . . . one of the best Fritz Crisler
Fritz Crisler
Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler was an American football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and defense. Crisler developed two-platoon football while serving as head coach at the University of...
ever saw. He had a great offensive charge. A corking blocker, especially when pulling out of the line, he was chosen as the Wolverines’ most valuable player in 1937.” Another reporter described Heikkinen as “Michigan’s 182-pound dynamo,” who was “fast as a halfback, and possessing the quickest charge his coach, Fritz Crisler, has seen.”
In addition to the All-American honors, Heikkinen finished second in voting for the Chicago Tribune Silver Football
Chicago Tribune Silver Football
The Chicago Tribune Silver Football is awarded by the Chicago Tribune to the college football player determined to be the best player from the Big Ten Conference. The award has been presented annually since 1924, when Red Grange of Illinois was the award's first recipient.The winner of the Silver...
trophy as the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
’s Most Valuable Player
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
. He was also chosen to play in the East-West Shrine Game
East-West Shrine Game
The East–West Shrine Game is an annual post-season college football all-star game played each January since 1925. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and the net proceeds are earmarked to some of the Shrine's charitable works, most notably the Shriners...
in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
on January 1, 1939. And in July 1939, Heikkinen was elected with 846,943 votes (fourth highest vote count of any player) to play in the annual game between the College All-Stars and the NFL New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. The Ironwood Daily Globe boasted that residents of Michigan’s sparsely populated Gogebic Range had accounted for 25,000 of Heikkinen’s votes.
Heikkinen the poet
Many of the articles reporting on Heikkinen’s All-American selection focused on his academic performance and on his love of poetry. While at Michigan, Heikkinen was also the president of the undergraduate “M” club in 1938 and president of U-M’s senior honor society, “Michigamua.” Detroit News sports editor H.G. Salsinger wrote that Heikkinen “writes poetry, and one of his poems appeared in a literary publication in 1938.” The Associated press noted that Heikkinen was “a high-ranking student whose hobby is poetry” An Ann Arbor paper wrote: “He’s extremely intelligent, dabbling in such fields as creative writing, drama, and poetryPoetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
with considerable vim and no little skill during his spare moments. He is completely unassuming, unusually quiet, and above all a real gentleman." In August 1939, Heikkinen was hired by a magazine to write a story on college football. Newspapers reported that Heikkinen was “collecting dividends on the reputation he made as a poet and writer as an undergraduate.” In 1937, Heikkinen was the subject of an article titled, “But He’s No Sissy.” The articles noted that Heikkinen “adheres strictly to a liquid diet” and drank a full quart of milk after every game as part of a special diet due to a stomach disorder.
Hero of the Upper Peninsula
Heikkinen was the first player from the Upper Peninsula of MichiganUpper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
to win All-Big Ten honors in 1938, and he topped that in 1939 as the region’s first All-American. His exploits were followed closely both during the summer and during the football season in the Gogebic Range’s newspapers, The Ironwood Daily Globe and The Bessemer Herald. When he was named an All-American by the AP, it was front page news, and the sports sections ran banner headlines. The Ironwood Daily Globe reported: “Football honors are coming so fast for Ralph I. Heikkinen . . . that it’s hard for range fans who have watched Ralph’s progress on the gridiron to keep up with the latest developments. The latest and greatest tribute came today with the releasing of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
all-America team on which he was named for a guard position. Heikkinen has twice been named on the all-conference eleven and twice selected as Michigan’s most valuable player, the latter award never before having gone to a Michigan man two years in a row. There remains only one greater honor possible – that of being named to Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
’s official all-America team.”
When he was named to the Grantland Rice team the following week, the Globe reported: “Heikkinen’s exceptional analytical ability on defense and his near-perfect blocking on offense this last season has gained him a position on every major all-star team chosen this year.” On December 8, 1938, the Globe announced that a banquet honoring Heikkinen would be held with “Hike” himself traveling north to attend.
In the week leading up to the banquet, the Globe published an interview with “Hike”’s high school football coach, Robert Reihsen. On the day of the banquet, the Bessemer Herald ran an editorial urging the city of Ramsay to name a street or park in Heikkinen’s honor: “Ramsay has never received the national publicity that its native son, Ralph Heikkinen, has brought to it this fall. By newspapers, magazines and radio the Gogebic range’s first All-American football star ahs brought renown to himself, his home town and his school. If Ramsay has any street, public building, park or athletic field, that are now without title, or the names of which can be changed, why not dedicate something to Ralph Heikkinen who has so nobly proved himself to be Bessemer township’s leading citizen for 1938? Other communities have done as much for their heroes. As far as the University of Michigan is concerned Heikkinen has already written his name forever on the athletic scroll of honor. He takes his place with a long line of All-American Wolverines. They are never forgotten at the Ann Arbor institution.”
At the testimonial dinner, Heikkinen’s six-year-old brother, Donald Heikkinen, was asked to name the greatest football player in the world and responded, “Ralph.” Donald offered that Ralph was best because he used “proper technique,” and found it difficult to choose his older brother’s greatest play because “there were so many of them.” Referring to the Ohio State game, Donald noted, “Ralph crushed through and smeared ‘em.” Heikkinen, or “Hike” as he was known to Yooper
Yooper
Yooper may refer to:* Yoopers, people from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan * Yooper dialect: The dialect of English speech used by the inhabitants of the Upper Peninsula* Da Yoopers: A comedy–musical group from the area of the Upper Peninsula...
s, was presented with a purse of $36 representing the No. 36 he wore for Michigan.
Heikkinen’s high school coach was the “toastmaster,” and the local school superintendent, E.J. Oas, said that Heikkinen is “not only all-American, he’s all man and all gentleman.” A nine-piece orchestra played, and led the community in singing. And the local American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
post presented him with a medal. The Bessemer Herald reported that “friends and admirers of Ralph Heikkinen . . . came from all parts of the Upper Peninsula last night to pay tribute to the football star.” The following day, he spoke to students in the assembly room of Bessemer high school where the school band gave a concert and Heikkinen was “given a boisterous welcome by the students.”
The Upper Peninsula press continued to report on Heikkinen’s every move, as he returned home shortly before Christmas, before heading west to play in the East-West Shrine Game
East-West Shrine Game
The East–West Shrine Game is an annual post-season college football all-star game played each January since 1925. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and the net proceeds are earmarked to some of the Shrine's charitable works, most notably the Shriners...
. On his departure for California, The Bessemer Herald said: “Ralph has made every major All America team in the nation this year. . . . Our nation has had many great men to emulate. The children of the Ramsay school not only have these in common with all others, but we have our own local hero who ahs gained national repute as a gentleman, scholar and last, but not least, a great athlete. To say that we are proud of Ralph is putting it mild. We feel that we are very honored to have had him as a student of the Ramsay school.”
The celebration resumed again in January 1939 when Michigan coach Fritz Crisler
Fritz Crisler
Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler was an American football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and defense. Crisler developed two-platoon football while serving as head coach at the University of...
accompanied Heikkinen back to the Upper Peninsula for another banquet. Filmed highlights of Michigan’s 1938 season, featuring Heikkinen, were shown at the banquet. Even in April 1939, Heikkinen’s appearances at banquets in the Upper Peninsula drew large crowds and wide press coverage.
In 1954, Heikkinen was one of the twenty initial inductees into the Gogebic Range Sports Hall of Fame.
Professional football
Heikkinen signed on as an assistant coach at Michigan in the spring 1939 initially expressing ambivalence about playing professional football. Then, on September 9, 1939 he had accepted an offer to play with the Brooklyn DodgersBrooklyn Dodgers (NFL)
The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, because of financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks...
of the NFL. Heikkinen had previously refused offers to play pro football, but the persistence of coach Potsy Clark, and Crisler’s assurance that a coaching job would be open for him in 1940, persuaded Heikkinen to try professional football. Heikkinen noted on signing, though, that he would definitely return to law school in 1940. It was reported that Heikkinen signed a contract for “at least $175 a game” with the Dodgers. Heikkinen was cut by the Dodgers after playing only three games.
When Heikkinen was released, one writer noted that Heikkinen “was perhaps the biggest disappointment among the highly ballyhooed players who came up this season.” Brooklyn’ coach Clark noted that that an “All-American man doesn’t mean a thing to us” in the NFL. Clark said: “Heikkinen weighed only 183 pounds and was pretty light for our league. He reported late and didn’t give himself a fair chance to show me what he could do. I just didn’t think he was in the right physical shape and mental shape.
The Upper Peninsula press disputed accounts that Heikkinen had not cut it in the NFL. Heikkinen’s friends said that Heikkinen asked for his own release in order to accept the opportunity to study law and coach football at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. One Upper Peninsula paper reported: “Had Heikkinen wanted to, he still could be a member of the Brooklyn squad. However, the Dodgers moguls co-operated with Ralph and released him from his contract when he informed them of the Virginia offer.”
Later years
In October 1939, Heikkinen was hired as the line coach at the University of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, where he also studied law. An influential alumnus of Virginia interviewed Heikkinen when the Dodgers played the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
and was instrumental in securing Heikkinen’s position with Virginia. Heikkinen worked as Virginia’s line coach from 1940–1944 and graduated first in his class from the University of Virginia School of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
in 1944. Fellow Michigan All-American, Edliff Slaughter
Edliff Slaughter
Edward Ratliff "Butch" Slaughter, Sr. , also known as Edliff Slaughter, was an American football player, athletic coach and professor of physical education. He played guard at the University of Michigan from 1922–1924 and was chosen as a first-team All-American in 1924...
, was also a Virginia coach with Heikkinen. During World War II, in 1943, Slaughter and Heikkinen turned from coaching to teaching aerial navigation at the University of Virginia Flight Preparatory School.
On March 3, 1941, Heikkinen married Margaret Jackson, in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
. In March 1947, Hekkinen was appointed line coach at Marquette University
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. Heikkinen was line coach under head coach Frank Murray
Frank Murray
Frank J. Murray was an American football and basketball coach. He is one of the few head football coaches to have non-consecutive tenure at the same college or university. Murray was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.-Marquette:Murray was the 13th head football at the...
at Virginia and joined Murray again at Marquette. In between the stints at Virginia and Marquette, Heikkinen was a New York attorney. While serving as Marquette’s line coach, Heikkinen also carried a full teaching schedule as an assistant law professor on the faculty of Marquette law school. Heikkinen only stayed one year at Marquette, returning to the practice of law in New York in 1948.
After leaving Marquette, Heikkinen worked as executive secretary and attorney for the Studebaker-Packard Corporation
Studebaker-Packard Corporation
The Studebaker-Packard Corporation was the entity created by the purchase of the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, in 1954.Packard acquired Studebaker in the transaction...
. He later joined the legal staff at General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, retiring in 1978 after 20 years of service in GM’s legal department. Heikkinen helped initiate and implement a corporation-wide alcohol treatment and education program at GM.
In 1987, Heikkinen was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor. He died of heart failure in Pontiac, Michigan
Pontiac, Michigan
Pontiac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan named after the Ottawa Chief Pontiac, located within the Detroit metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 59,515. It is the county seat of Oakland County...
at age 72. He was survived by his wife, Margaret Helen Heikkinen, and six children, Ralph Heikkinen, Jr., James Heikkinen, Pamela Ronci, Peggy Parisen, and Elizabeth Heikkinen, and Linda Heikkinen. His funeral was held at St. Paul Methodist Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...
.
See also
- List of Michigan Wolverines football All-Americans
- University of Michigan Athletic Hall of HonorUniversity of Michigan Athletic Hall of HonorThe University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...