Dick Packer was a U.S.

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

center forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

who was a member of the U.S. team 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 ...

. He was a two time First Team All American at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

and played over ten seasons in the American Soccer League.

Biography

Packer grew up in

Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania Newtown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,248 at the 2010 census. It is located just west of the Trenton, New Jersey metropolitan area, and is part of the larger Philadelphia metropolitan area. It is ...

. He attended the

George School George School is a private Quaker (Society of Friends) boarding and day high school located on a rural campus in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania ( Newtown postal address). It was founded at its present site in 1893, and has grown ...

where he played soccer, basketball and baseball. In 1952, the

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

soccer coach,

Bill Jeffrey Sir William Alexander Jeffrey, KCB (born 28 February 1948) is a former senior British civil servant, who retired in the autumn of 2010. Jeffrey was educated at Allan Glen's School, Glasgow, and the Glasgow University. He joined the Home Offic ...

, recruited Packer. He entered Penn State on a full athletic scholarship, playing both baseball, as a center fielder and shortstop, as well as center forward on the soccer team. At the time, collegiate rules prohibited freshmen from playing intercollegiate sports. Consequently, he played on the varsity soccer team from 1953 to 1955. His junior season, he dropped baseball and concentrated on soccer for his last two seasons at Penn State. In 1954, Penn State won the national college championship and shared the 1955 title with Brockport University. Packer was named to the 1954 and 1955 first team All American team. Despite playing only three seasons and twenty-four games, he scored 53 goals, a school record which stood until broken by Stuart Reid in 1995. In December 1955, he joined the

Uhrik Truckers Philadelphia German-American was an American soccer club based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was an inaugural member of the professional American Soccer League. Before the 1941/42 season the club became known as the Philadelphia Americans. ...

of the American Soccer League. By that time, he had been selected for the U.S. Olympic Soccer team as it prepared for the

. In order to maintain his amateur, he played without pay with Truckers. The Truckers won the 1955-1956 ASL championship with Packer coming off the bench and scoring two goals in the title game. Packer graduated from Penn State in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in hotel administration. That summer, he went to the Summer Olympics, but did not play in the team's only game, a 9–1 loss to Yugoslavia. During his college years, he had attended

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

and after graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. Packer separated from the Air Force in 1959. He rejoined Uhrik and would play with the team until at least 1968. He also worked in the travel industry. He has also run soccer camps for over thirty years.Ex-Olympian still carries a torch for soccer
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References

External links

An unlikely Olympian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Dick Living people American soccer coaches American soccer players Olympic soccer players of the United States Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Uhrik Truckers players United States Air Force officers Soccer players from Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) Association football forwards

Biography

See also

References

External links