Paul Blair was a professional football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player for the Latrobe Athletic Association

Latrobe Athletic Association

The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. The team is best known for being the first football club to play a full season while composed entirely of professional players...

 in 1904. He was also the brother of Latrobe player, Eddie Blair

Eddie Blair

Dr. James Edward Blair was an early professional football player with the Latrobe Athletic Association. He was also a skilled surgeon. He later relocated to Burlington, New Jersey, where he became active in He took a prominent part in the city council for a time and was a surgeon for the Third...

. After the 1904 season, Blair was killed when he was hit by train walking along the Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 line between Latrobe, Pennsylvania

Latrobe, Pennsylvania

Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the United States, approximately southeast of Pittsburgh.The city population was 7,634 as of the 2000 census . It is located near the Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorporated as a borough in 1854, and as a city in 1999...

 and Derry

Derry, Pennsylvania

Derry is a borough in Westmoreland County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh. The Borough of Derry, consisting of the town area, should not be confused with Derry Township, which is a separate municipality surrounding the borough. In 1900, the population numbered 2,347, and in...

. The train's crew then load Paul's body on the train. Horrorifyingly, Paul's father, John Blair, who was a railroad employee, recognized the shoe on the body that was just struck by the train, as being his son's. Latrobe players Harry Ryan

Harry Ryan

Harry Edgar Ryan was a British track cycling racer. Ryan came second in the world amateur sprint championship in 1913., he also competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal in the tandem competition together with his partner Thomas Lance as well as the bronze medal in the...

 and John Brallier

John Brallier

John Kinport "Sal" Brallier was one of the first professional American football players. He was nationally acknowledged as the first openly paid professional football player when he was given $10 to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association for a game against the Jeanette Athletic Association in...

 served as pallbearer

Pallbearer

A pall-bearer is one of several funeral participants who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery or mausoleum, or to and from the hearse which carries the coffin....

s at the funeral.

The Latrobe football team also reportedly sent a beautiful floral wreath, standing on a pillar, to the Blair home. It stood almost five feet high. In the wreath were the words "Latrobe Football Team, 1904," while the words were intertwined with the colors of the team.