Blake Armstrong, a member of the Athens High School class of 1991, was inducted Dec. 5 into the Athens ISD Athletic Hall of Fame. A two-sport juggernaut as a Hornet, he was fourth all-time leading passer in Texas High School football history among all classifications at the time of his graduation.
“I came out of the womb highly competitive,” said Blake. “I always had a ball in my hand. There was nothing more fun than playing sports, but it was way more than just a game for me — and it didn’t matter if it was organized or in the front yard.”
Born in Corsicana to Hugh and Carol Armstrong, it was his father, who passed away earlier this year, who fed his son’s love of team sports. When the family lived in McGregor, Hugh served as president of the high school booster club, and his elementary-school-aged son served as a de facto member.
“We never missed a football game or a pep rally; I went to everything, including away games,” recalled Blake. “I idolized those high school football players, and I knew I wanted to do that someday. I brought that love with me to Athens.”
The Armstrongs moved to Athens in the spring of 1983, and Blake started fifth grade at AISD, where he was a strong student and, to no one’s surprise, a standout athlete. If it was a sport, he was involved.
His first two years at Athens High School, Blake played football, basketball and baseball. As a sophomore, he played on the bi-district-winning varsity basketball team. When he shared quarterback duties on the varsity football team as a sophomore, Blake was named All-Henderson County and All-East Texas Newcomer of the Year, and led District 15-4A in passing yards and touchdowns.
“Once I got a dose of playing varsity football, that adrenaline and excitement were pretty intoxicating,” said Blake. “I started really, really loving the game.”
That love of the game translated into a watershed of superlatives as the starting quarterback his final two years at AHS. His junior year, Blake was Class 4A passing leader in yards and touchdowns; District, All-East Texas and All-Henderson County MVP; 1st Team Class 4A All-State Quarterback; and USA Today High School All-American. His senior year saw most of those titles repeated. He led the Hornets to district championships both years, and a bi-district championship as a senior.
When Blake completed his high school career as the fourth all-time leading passer in Texas High School football history among all classifications, he had amassed 6,297 yards and 59 touchdowns. He continues to hold all passing records in Athens High School program history.
On the baseball front, Blake was the first freshman to ever start for a Gerald Wood-coached AHS baseball team. Blake received First Team All-District honors all four seasons on varsity as a shortstop and pitcher, was a three-time First Team All-Henderson County honoree and was twice selected All-East Texas. He hit .407 his senior year, and knocked in nine career home runs.
Blake was heavily recruited from across the nation as a quarterback beginning his junior year, but as his high school career wound down, the one thing he had no control over became a mitigating factor. They were looking for big and tall, and at 5-9, Blake was not quite that. Nevertheless, with such stellar performances on the field, there were options, and Stephen F. Austin State University not only offered Blake a football scholarship, they were willing to let him play baseball as well.
So after graduating AHS with honors in 1991, he headed to Nacogdoches and became a two-sport collegiate athlete. After his freshman year, Blake concentrated solely on football, completing three full seasons, freshman through junior years, as a letterman quarterback and member of the Southland Conference All-Academic Team.
“Playing college athletics was a great experience, but it never compared to playing for AHS,” he said.
After graduating from SFA in 1995, Blake attended law school at the University of Tulsa, graduating three years later with a jurisprudence degree. He settled in Tyler and spent the first 10 years of his career handling civil litigation, mostly through the Texas Municipal League. That evolved through word of mouth to representing cities, and today he is general counsel to 24 cities and two school districts — which include the city of Athens and Athens ISD.
Blake and his wife of 21 years, Kelli, have three children: 19-year-old Avery, a sophomore attending the University of Kansas on a track scholarship; 16-year-old Alec, and 13-year-old Pierce.
“I took sports very seriously,” said Blake. “That was my approach from the time I was very young all the way through the end of my sports career. … But one thing I don’t want to get lost in all of this is just how much fun I had. Nothing was better.”
Also being honored at the Dec. 5 AISD Athletic Hall of Fame induction dinner are Morgan Mayse (2006 4A high jump champion and three-time state medalist; 2007 All-Henderson County Area Basketball Player of the Year); the 2010 varsity football team (UIL Region III-3A finalists; most football playoff victories, at three, in a single postseason); and, posthumously, the “Golden Era” boys basketball teams of 1929 and 1930, that won back-to-back national championships.