Bob Thornbladh
American football player and coach (born 1952)
Robert N. M. "Blade" Thornbladh (born September 19, 1952) is an American former football player, coach and radio color commentator. He played professionally as a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL)
Thornbladh played college football for the Michigan Wolverines team from 1971 to 1973 and was an assistant coach at Michigan from 1980 to 1986. He later served as the color commentator for Michigan football broadcasts on WJR radio.
Playing career
Thornbladh was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1952 and graduated from Plymouth High School in Plymouth, Michigan. He enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1970 and played at the fullback position for the Wolverines from 1971 to 1973. He gained 677 rushing yards for the Wolverines on 163 carries for an average of 4.2 yards per carry. He scored 11 rushing touchdowns, and his longest run for Michigan was a 31-yard gain against Wisconsin in 1973. Thornbladh also had seven pass receptions for Michigan, gaining 55 yards for an average of 7.9 yards per reception. He also returned five kickoffs for 52 yards for an average of 10.4 yards per return.
Thornbladh was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 11th round of the 1974 NFL draft (275th overall pick).
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4934190. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1971, 1973 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bob Thornbladh” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.