When the Ventura County Star picked its All-Century football team in 2000, there wasn’t much debate about one of its offensive line candidates. By the time that Rio Mesa High retired his football number in 1994, Blake Wingle had completed an athletic career with a resume that included starting for a Rose Bowl Championship team and being part of two NFL regular-season division championship teams.
Blake was a three-sport athlete at Rio Mesa. He was named as the school’s Most Athletic, earning co-MVP honors for Football, MVP for Wrestling and the outstanding field event athlete for Track and Field.
After stints at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Ventura College, Wingle arrived at Westwood, where he would start for two seasons with the UCLA Bruins. In his senior year, Blake was awarded the game ball against Cal, selected as the offensive MVP against USC, and celebrated with the Bruins’ PAC-10 championship and victory in the 1983 Rose Bowl.
Among Blake’s honors was his selection to the Academic All-American football team. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology.
The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Blake in the ninth round of the 1983 National Football League draft. He was a member of the Steelers’ 1983 Central Division championship team that would lose to the Raiders in the postseason. Blake started 10 games for Pittsburgh in 1984, and he was awarded the game ball after Pittsburgh’s 52-24 win over the San Diego Chargers. The Steelers repeated as the division champion and advanced to the AFC championship game, before losing to the Miami Dolphins.
For the 1985 season, Blake split his time between the Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. In his final NFL season, Blake would play with the Cleveland Browns, starting three games.
A resident of Bakersfield, Blake and his wife Lisa are the parents of Brent, Emily, Brandon and Aubrey.