Former Cyclone William Michael "Mike" Bliss Dies at 56

AMES, Iowa - Former Iowa State All-Big Eight offensive guard William Michael "Mike" Bliss died suddenly at home in Westport, Conn. Wednesday morning. He was 56.

Bliss was a standout student athlete at Ames High. At Iowa state, he played for coach Johnny Majors and was named to the All Big Eight Team and received NCAA Academic All-America honors. Mike graduated from ISU in 1970 with a degree in distributive studies, served in the Army and then attended Harvard Business School where he received an MBA.

For the past 30 years, he was a successful financial analyst and advisor, and was a partner at Westport Resources in Westport, CT.

He is survived by his wife of 23 years, Cheryl, son Tim and daughters Lindsay and Erin, brother Dr. David Bliss of San Francisco, Calif., and sister Dr. Carolyn Bliss of Salt Lake City, Utah. He was the son of the late Dr. William Bliss and Jane Helser Bliss of Ames, Iowa.

A three sport letterman at Ames High, Mike Bliss was an honor student and combination quarterback and fullback for head coach Cecil Spatcher. He was also a guard on coach George Duvall's state tourney basketball team of 1966, a shot-putter and discus thrower for track coach Hi Covey. He was also a summer employee of Bliss Construction Company who sledge-hammered concrete as hard as he nailed defensive linemen later for Iowa State.

When Mike Bliss graduated from Iowa State in May of 1970, he was honored at "Mike Bliss Day" and received the Key to the City by then Ames Mayor, Lee Fellinger.

Weeks later, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and bound for Vietnam as a combat infantryman, or so he believed. Bliss was honored for his all around outstanding college career and for being a stand-up draftee when it wasn't easy or popular to be one.

Mike Bliss was honored by the Mayor and given the key to the city based on scholarship, citizenship and athletic talent. Other recent recipients of the key to the City who also had a "day" named after him include all-round sports legend Fred Hoiberg, of Ames High, ISU and NBA fame, and ISU Wrestler and Olympic Gold Medalist Cael Sanderson.

Bliss was known as a tough, smart starting offensive guard for the Cyclones and a terrific college student with an NCAA Academic All-American scholarship to Harvard Business School. Small for the Big Eight at the time at just six feet and 215 pounds, Bliss had made his mark knocking down defensive linemen 60 pounds heavier throughout his career.

Bliss had already been named to the All Big Eight football team as an offensive guard in addition to the NCAA Academic All-American award.

In his only TV interview after being named to the Big Eight Team in the fall of 1969, WOI-TV sports anchor Frank Schneider pointed out that Bliss wasn't especially big, not that strong and not as fast as other offensive linemen named to the team. Bliss said that was true. Schneider asked if he was hoping to be drafted by an NFL team in spite of his size. Bliss said he was planning to be drafted, but by the U.S. Army, as soon as he graduated, and he was.

Slated to become a combat infantryman in Vietnam, Bliss completed advanced infantry training and his unit instead was deployed to Alaska for two years. Just below the Arctic Circle, Bliss's company commander discovered that the Harvard-business-bound private could run admin as well as he punched the blocking sled for ISU. Mike was the third member of the family to serve in the Army, following after his father Dr. William Bliss, an Army Surgeon during WWII and uncle Captain Robert Bliss, a forward artillery observer.

So, Mike served his country with a typewriter instead of his standard-issue M-16 and learned to ski, according to his sister Carolyn Bliss of Salt Lake City, Utah. After completing his two-year hitch, Bliss enrolled at Harvard in 1972 and completed his MBA. He was drafted again, this time by Louis Dreyfus Company, an international commodities trading company where he worked for eight years.

Bliss left Dreyfus in 1982 to become a registered financial advisor, continuing on that career path until his death.

The Bliss family is still recovering from the shock of losing Mike so suddenly, a life-long jogger who ran at least 10 miles a week. A memorial service in Ames is being planned for late June or early July.

A memorial service and reception will take place on Wednesday May 18th at 2:30pm at the Greens Farms Congregational Church on Hillandale Road in Westport. Condolences may be sent to 3 Punch Bowl Drive, Westport, CT or donations may be sent to the William R. Bliss Cancer Center, c/o MGMC Foundation, 1111 Duff Avenue, Ames, IA 50010 or Westport Arts Center, 51 Riverside Avenue, Westport, CT 06880

Iowa State University Athletics

Former Cyclone William Michael "Mike" Bliss Dies at 56

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