Peru State College Athletics

Big, fast and rugged, Robert “Bob” Lade was called an “iron man” during the famed “Al Wheeler Era”, spearheading the undefeated football teams of 1952 and ’53. A two-way starting lineman, the 210 pounder was the first Nebraskan to earn first-team Little All-American honors, despite being declared legally blind. After a short stint with the Baltimore Colts in 1953, Lade left the NFL to coach and teach in Tarkio, Mo. One of Peru State’s fiercest competitors, he passed away in 1973.