James Kovach (born May 1, 1956) is an American entrepreneur,

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, attorney and former

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 wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who played seven seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. He played college football at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

, where he also studied medicine.

Early life

Kovach played as a

at University of Kentucky while studying pre-medicine. Because he had an injury-related

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...

season, he played his senior year of eligibility while taking his freshman year at

University of Kentucky College of Medicine 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, ...

Career

National Football League

Kovach was drafted by the

in the

1979 NFL draft The 1979 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astori ...

and played for the team for six seasons, while completing his medical education at

in the off-seasons. October 7, 1984 James Kovach was the player that tackled Walter Payton on the play that Walter Payton broke Jim Browns rushing record. In 1985, he played as a linebacker for the

. After his retirement from the NFL, Kovach earned his J.D. degree from Stanford University School of Law and practiced as an intellectual-property attorney before becoming a business owner.

Post-NFL career

Kovach has also worked with several organizations in the fields of aging research. He is a former president of the

Buck Institute for Research on Aging The Buck Institute for Research on Aging is an independent biomedical research institute that researches aging and age-related disease. The mission of the Buck Institute is to extend the healthy years of life. The Buck Institute is one of nine ce ...

. Kovach is a member of the National Football League concussion committee. In 2010, Kovach was recognized by the

College Sports Information Directors of America College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pro ...

as member of the Academic All-America Hall of Fame. Kovach was the COO and SVP of Business Development of CrowdOptic. He is currently the Director, Entrepreneurism and Innovation at the University of California Davis Health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovach, Jim 1956 births Living people American football linebackers Kentucky Wildcats football players New Orleans Saints players San Francisco 49ers players American businesspeople American geriatricians American lawyers People from Parma Heights, Ohio Players of American football from Cuyahoga County, Ohio Stanford Law School alumni University of Kentucky College of Medicine alumni

Early life

Career

National Football League

Post-NFL career

See also

References