Published on Show Me Mizzou Aug. 28, 2026
Story by Tony Rehagen, BA, BJ ’01
To many Mizzou fans, the mention of Ed Blaine, BS ’63, PhD ’69, conjures a mythic footballer: an All-American who played both offensive guard and linebacker for Coach Dan Devine’s undefeated 1960 Tigers before being drafted by NFL Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi to join the Green Bay Packers.
But for Blaine, who died on March 22 at 86, his football scholarship was always a means to an end, a ticket out of small Farmington, Mo., to a university where he could continue to pursue his passion for science. That’s same mindset is why, five years into his pro-football career, at his physical peak, Blaine walked away from the gridiron for good. “My dad had a complicated relationship with football,” says son Mark Blaine. He always said, ‘I’m a scientist.’”
Devotion to zoology brought Blaine back to Mizzou, where he finished his doctorate (defending his dissertation on the day Mark was born) and embarked on a career as a research scientist. He studied kidney function and its link to cardiovascular disease. He held six patents and was a pioneer in deciphering the ways hormonal systems use salt and water to regulate blood pressure. He helped develop drugs to fight hypertension.
Blaine’s work took him all over the world, but he always returned to Mizzou. He settled in Columbia for good in the early 1990s to be director of the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. He later taught at the MU School of Medicine until he retired in 2015.
“When he came back to Columbia, I was a student at Mizzou,” Mark says. “His return seemed like a puzzle piece coming together. It’s like he’d had a yearning for the community that he didn’t really know he had.”
Mark stresses that his dad continued to be physically active — just out in the world instead of on the field. He enjoyed hiking, rock climbing, canoeing, skiing and knocking around the woods. He was a proud member of both the University of Missouri Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. But to Mark, Mark’s sister Jennifer, and those who knew him best, Blaine was always a scientist.
“What would have happened if he hadn’t gotten the football scholarship?” Mark wonders. “How would that have cost the scientific community?”
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