Horace Dyer
Horace Levi Dyer (February 24, 1873-July 3, 1928) was an American football player and attorney. He played at the halfback position for the 1894 Michigan Wolverines football team and was an attorney assigned to prosecute complex fraud cases from the 1900s to the 1920s. Early years. Dyer was born in Louisiana, Missouri, in 1873, the son of David Patterson Dyer, a federal judge and member of Congress. He received his preparatory education at the Stoddard School, Clark's Academy, and the Smith Academy, all in St. Louis, Missouri. University of Michigan. Dyer enrolled at the University of  Michigan in 1890 and played as a halfback for the 1894 Michigan Wolverines football team. He helped lead the team to a 9-1-1 record, the best record in the history of the Michigan football team to that date. He was five feet, seven inches tall, and weighed 167 pounds as a football player. Legal career. After receiving his LL.B. degree from Michigan in 1895, Dyer returned to St. Louis where he practiced law. He was an assistant city attorney from 1899 to 1902 and an Assistant U.S. Attorney starting in 1902. Dyer developed a reputation for prosecuting significant  fraud cases and was often dispatched by the U.S. Department of Justice as a special prosecutor in such cases. Dyer's significant cases include the following: Dyer died at age 56 in July 1928 during the prosecution of Clarence Saunders in the Piggly Wiggly case. The cause of death was heart disease. Following Dyer's death, an order from Washington, D.C., dismissed the case. Family. Burton married Bettie Edgar in 1899, and she died in 1901. He married Betty Wilcox in 1905, and they had two sons, David (born 1908) and John (born 1913). In a draft registration card completed  at the time of World War I, Dyer stated that he was a lawyer with an office in the Central National Bank Building in St. Louis. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, he was living in St. Louis with his wife and two sons, and was employed as an attorney.