Blaikie, William, 1843-1904
Biographical Note
William Blaikie was born in Livingston County in York, New York, on May 24, 1843. He graduated from Harvard in 1866 and then from the Harvard Law School in 1868. During both his time at Harvard and afterwards, he was involved with the crew team, and the year following his graduation, 1867, he served as its secretary and treasurer and accompanied the team to England. Blaikie’s interest in crew remained throughout his life, and he followed the results of Harvard races in the newspaper and, at one point, bought them a new racing boat.
Following law school, Blaikie was a clerk in the Attorney General’s office in Washington D.C. and then served as the assistant attorney in the United States Attorney’s office in New York before entering into private practice. Blaikie was also Commissioner of the United States Court of Claims for eight years.
Outside of his law practice, Blaikie was most widely known for his interest in athletics, sports, and physical education. He wrote heavily on the subject including How to Get Strong, and How to Stay So (New York, 1879) and Sound Bodies for our Boys and Girls (New York, 1884). Blaikie was a pioneer in the field of weight lifting, and his book was widely used by trainers, colleges, and men around the country. The book was also used by Springfield College in classes on physical education and athletics. In fact, while at Oberlin as an undergraduate, Luther Gulick was influenced by Blaikie’s work How to Get Strong and How to Stay So, particularly in reference to Blaikie’s thoughts on body-building and health and Gulick’s developing vision of the relations among physical training, mental training, and good morals (Hopkins,1951, p. 253).
In addition to writing on the subjects, Blaikie lectured extensively on topics of physical education, the benefits of athletics for the body, and weight lifting. In 1888, Blaikie was also the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education (AAAPE). Blaikie was a Trustee of the School for Christian Workers, 1889-1890, now Springfield College. He also was a special lecturer at the School. He died in 1904.