Ralph Heikkinen
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| Date of birth | May 14, 1917 |
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| Place of birth | Hancock, Michigan |
| Date of death | January 12, 1990 (aged 72) |
| Place of death | Pontiac, Michigan |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Guard |
| College | Michigan |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1939 | Brooklyn Dodgers |
| Awards | All-American, 1938 |
| Honors | Most Valuable Player on Michigan Wolverines, 1937 and 1938 Finished 2nd in Big Ten MVP voting, 1937 |
| Career stats | |
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Ralph Isaac “Hike” Heikkinen (May 14, 1917 – January 12, 1990) was an All-American guard for the University of Michigan Wolverines football team from 1936 to 1938. He was a consensus All-American in 1938, the first player from the Gogebic Range area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula to win the honor. His exploits were widely reported in the Upper Peninsula press, where he became a local hero. He played professional football in the National Football League (NFL) with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939.
From 1940 to 1944, he was the line coach for the Virginia Cavaliers football team while attending the University of Virginia School of Law at the same time. After practicing law in New York for a time, he spent a year as a line coach and law professor at Marquette University in 1947. After leaving Marquette, Heikkinen worked as executive secretary and attorney for Studebaker-Packard Corporation. He later joined the legal staff at General Motors (GM), retiring in 1978 after 20 years of service in GM’s legal department. Heikkinen also helped initiate and implement a corporation-wide alcohol treatment and education program at General Motors.
Born in Hancock, Michigan in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Heikkinen was the son of Finnish immigrants, and grew up in Ramsay, Michigan, a heavily Finnish American community in the Gogebic Range area. Heikkinen's father, Jacob Heikkinen, was a “noted organist” who played at St. Paul’s Finnish Lutheran Church.
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