Desmond Dalworth Koch (May 10, 1932 – January 26, 1991) was an American
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
athlete and football player who won a bronze medal in the
discus throw
The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...
at the
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...
.
[
Koch graduated from Reed High School in ]Shelton, Washington
Shelton is a city in, and the county seat of, Mason County, Washington, United States. Shelton is the westernmost city on Puget Sound. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census. Shelton has a council–manager form of government and was the ...
and University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
. In 1955 he won the NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
discus title, but failed to qualify for the 1956 Olympics; he was included in the team to replace Ron Drummond who could not compete. Besides athletics Koch was known for his football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
skills. He played as an amateur and tried out with 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 ...
(who drafted him in the 1954 NFL draft
The 1954 National Football League Draft was held on January 28, 1954, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.
This was the eighth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery. With the previous seven winners i ...
) and San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...
, but never played as a professional. Koch married Mitzi Whitefeather, a Native American. They together had three children name India, Tonya, and sandy. After retiring from sport he worked at a plastics manufacturing plant, eventually becoming its executive. [
]
References
1932 births
1991 deaths
American male discus throwers
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field
Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics
People from Shelton, Washington
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