Archie John Kodros (January 20, 1918 – June 4, 1990) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He played for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

football team from 1937 to 1939 and was selected as a first-team All-American and team captain in his senior year. He served in the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, Kodros worked as a football coach at

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacifi ...

(1948–1950),

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

(1951), and

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

(1952–1965).

Athlete

Kodros grew up in

Alton, Illinois Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the River Bend area in the Metro-East region of the ...

and graduated from Alton High School in 1936. Kodros played football in high school and had an offer to play for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. He chose instead to play for the

because they had a tradition of having great

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

s. Kodros worked his way into the starting line-up at Michigan as a sophomore walk-on in 1937. He played at the center position for Michigan from 1937 to 1939 and was the captain of the

1939 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1939 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1939 Big Ten Conference football season. Under second-year head coach Fritz Crisler, Michigan compiled a 6–2 record and outscored opponents 219 to 94. The ...

. He played on the line with

Forest Evashevski Forest "Evy" Evashevski (February 19, 1918 – October 30, 2009) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 and with the Iowa Pre-Flight ...

and

Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), known as Tom Harmon, as well as by the nickname "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster. Harmon grew up in Gary, Indiana, and playe ...

in the backfield. In 1939, one Ohio sports reporter credited Kodros with a share of Harmon's success: "One reason why Tom Harmon plays so sensationally each Saturday is shown here. The Michigan line, led by Captain Archie Kodros, No. 53, blocks beautifully and opens the way for Tom to get into the secondary, where the star Wolverine back can peddle his own papers." In his final game for Michigan, Kodros intercepted a pass deep in Michigan's territory off

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

's All-American quarterback, Don Scott, to help lead the Wolverines to a 21–14 win over the Buckeyes. Kodros received honorable mentions on several All-American teams and was selected as a first-team All-American by

Bill Stern Bill Stern (July 1, 1907 – November 19, 1971) was an American actor and sportscaster who announced the nation's first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a baseball game. In 1984, Stern was part of the American Sportscaster ...

for ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine. He ranked third in the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

All-American voting with 146 points in a close finish behind John Haman on Northwestern (213 points) and John Schiechl of Santa Clara (148 points).

Coaching career and military service

Kodros was drafted by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the

1940 NFL Draft The 1940 National Football League Draft was held on December 9, 1939, at the Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Chicago Cardinals selected George Cafego. Player selections Round one Round ...

(159th overall pick), but he declined the invitation and opted instead to work toward at master's degree in business at Michigan. He later recalled: "I figured I was better off starting in business. Pro football didn't pay that much back then because there were only eight teams and television hadn't started by 1940. Maybe you could play a few years in the NFL back then, but then where were you? I said the heck with the pros. I didn't even go for my interview." While studying toward his master's degree, Kodros also worked as an assistant football coach at Michigan under

Fritz Crisler Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler (; January 12, 1899 – August 19, 1982) was an American college football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and d ...

in 1940 and 1941. During

, Kodros served in the

and participated in the invasion of Italy. He played for an Army All-Star football team in 1942 that defeated the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

12 to 10. At the end of the war, he played for an Air Force team called the Second Air Force Superbombers. In 1948, Kodros was hired as the line coach and assistant professor of physical education at

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...

. He became Whitman's head football coach in 1949 and added the title of athletic director in 1950. In May 1951, Kodros was hired as the athletic director and head football coach of the

. He compiled a record of 4 wins and 7 losses at Hawaii. In February 1952, he announced his resignation from Hawaii, and in April 1952, he was hired by his former teammate,

, who had been named head football coach at the

. Kodros served as an assistant football coach at Iowa from 1952 through 1965.

Later years and family

Kodros was married to the former Effie Virginia Jowett on July 10, 1943. The couple had four children, sons Paul, Rodney and Robert, and daughter, Marijo Mihalopoulos. After Kodros retired from coaching, he and his wife owned and operated the Hilltop Mobile Home Park in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

. He retired in 1985 and continued to live in Iowa City. In 1990, Kodros died at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City after a long illness with cancer. He was survived by his wife, two sons (Rodney and Robert), a daughter (Marijo), two grandchildren and three sisters.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kodros, Archie 1918 births 1990 deaths American football centers Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine athletic directors Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Michigan Wolverines football players Second Air Force Superbombers football players Whitman Blues athletic directors Whitman Fighting Missionaries football coaches United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Sportspeople from Madison County, Illinois Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Illinois Educators from Illinois Military personnel from Illinois Deaths from cancer in Iowa People from Alton, Illinois