Robert B. Liggett, 81, of 1125 Summit ave., Mahtomedi, sportsman and advertising man, died Thursday in St. Joseph’s hospital after a long illness.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Monday in the Listoe and Wold mortuary, 531 S. Snelling ave. Burial will be in Fort Snelling cemetery.

Mr. Liggett was born in Ohio and attended Central high school in St. Paul. At the University of Minnesota, he lettered in football as a fullback in 1901 and 1902, and was declared “unofficial” heavyweight boxing champion. Boxing was then forbidden on campus.

The sports editor of the Duluth Herald until 1911, he was athletic director for two marine corps training camps in France during World war I, where he became a friend of Gene Tunney.

Mr. Liggett was national advertising manager for the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press from 1922 to 1948. He was afterward manager of the papers’ Minneapolis office until his retirement in 1954.

After retirement, he continued a long-time habit of walking 14 miles around White Bear Lake on weekends. He swam across the lake until he was 65. He is survived by sons, Robert B. Jr., of Mahtaomedi, and William B. Liggett, Taylors Falls, Minn., and five grandchildren. Two sons, John and Jerome, died in an auto accident Dec. 26, 1948. His wife died in 1953.