Blumer, Herbert

Herbert George Blumer (1900–1987) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. At age 15, he dropped out of high school to help with his father's cabinetmaking business, but in 1918, he enrolled at the University of Missouri, where he earned his BA (1921) and MA degrees (1922) with Phi Beta Kappa honors. During his time there, he studied with some of the preeminent scholars of the day, in particular Charles Ellwood, a sociologist, and Max Meyer, a behavioral psychologist. He also was an All-American tackle with the Missouri football team and continued his football career at the professional level, playing for the Chicago Cardinals from 1925 to 1933, a time during which he completed his doctoral studies in sociology at the University of Chicago, and was ...