Ralph Heikkinen - Later Years

Later Years

In October 1939, Heikkinen was hired as the line coach at the University of Virginia, where he also studied law. An influential alumnus of Virginia interviewed Heikkinen when the Dodgers played the Detroit Lions and was instrumental in securing Heikkinen’s position with Virginia. Heikkinen worked as Virginia’s line coach from 1940–1944 and graduated first in his class from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1944. Fellow Michigan All-American, Edliff Slaughter, was also a Virginia coach with Heikkinen. During World War II, in 1943, Slaughter and Heikkinen turned from coaching to teaching aerial navigation at the University of Virginia Flight Preparatory School.

On March 3, 1941, Heikkinen married Margaret Jackson, in Davenport, Iowa. In March 1947, Hekkinen was appointed line coach at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Heikkinen was line coach under head coach Frank Murray at Virginia and joined Murray again at Marquette. In between the stints at Virginia and Marquette, Heikkinen was a New York attorney. While serving as Marquette’s line coach, Heikkinen also carried a full teaching schedule as an assistant law professor on the faculty of Marquette law school. Heikkinen only stayed one year at Marquette, returning to the practice of law in New York in 1948.

After leaving Marquette, Heikkinen worked as executive secretary and attorney for the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. He later joined the legal staff at General Motors, retiring in 1978 after 20 years of service in GM’s legal department. Heikkinen helped initiate and implement a corporation-wide alcohol treatment and education program at GM.

In 1987, Heikkinen was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor. He died of heart failure in Pontiac, Michigan at age 72. He was survived by his wife, Margaret Helen Heikkinen, and six children, Ralph Heikkinen, Jr., James Heikkinen, Pamela Ronci, Peggy Parisen, and Elizabeth Heikkinen, and Linda Heikkinen. His funeral was held at St. Paul Methodist Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.