He spent his teenage years in Tampa, Florida where his family moved after his father, a United States Army captain, retired there.

A 1963 graduate of George D. Chamberlain High School, he made the National Honor Society and starred on the varsity teams in football, baseball, track and basketball.

He was a member of the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class AA football champions in 1961.

He eventually was inducted into the Tampa Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and named the sixth-best football player ever from Hillsborough County, Florida by the St. Petersburg Times in 1999.

[6][7][8][9] Blue died at an assisted living facility in Carmichael, California of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).