In a 1991 news story, The New York Times wrote, "Curiously, the very size that made him so intimidating on the football field kept him out of the military until late 1943, when, after repeated attempts, Blozis finally persuaded the Army to waive its size limit and accept him. It took further persuading to get from a desk job to the front lines."[1]
Blozis was inducted into the United States Army on December 9, 1943. He was first assigned to duty as a physical instructor at Walter Reed General Hospital and then went through officer training at Fort Benning, where he set the army's hand-grenade-throwing record with a toss of 94 yards, 2 feet, 6.5 inches.[1] He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 28th Infantry Division. On January 31, 1945, his platoon was in the Vosges Mountains of France scouting enemy lines. When two of his men, a sergeant and a private, failed to return from a patrol, he went in search of them alone.[4] He never returned.
Blozis was first listed as missing, but in April 1945, his death was confirmed.
Honors
The New York Giants retired the number 32 that Blozis had worn. A second Giants player, Jack Lummus, also died in World War II.[5]
In April 1946, True Comics[6] featured a story about Blozis entitled The Human Howitzer.[7]
The United States Army honored Blozis by naming an athletic center in Frankfurt, Germany after him. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986.
An apartment building in Jersey City, Al Blozis Hall, is named in his honor.[8]
^Thomas, Robert McG., Jr. "Two Giants Were Heroes Far From Playing Field", The New York Times, January 26, 1991. Accessed September 25, 2009. "Blozis, who was born in Garfield, New Jersey, and was a star athlete at Dickinson High School in Jersey City before going to Georgetown on a track scholarship, was regarded as the strongest player in professional football and had the physique to prove it."
^"Al Blozis". USA Track & Field. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
"Two Giants Were Heroes Far From Playing Field; Al Blozis, a Star Tackle, and Jack Lummus, a Promising Receiver, Died in Combat in World War II", New York Times, January 26, 1991.
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