John Otto Simus (January 27, 1943 – March 15, 2018) was an American ice hockey

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and

Vietnam veteran A Vietnam veteran is a person who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and oth ...

who was an All-American for

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

Career

Simus joined the varsity squad at

in 1961 and suffered through one of the worst seasons in the history of college hockey. Simus scored 14 points for the Tigers and the team lost all 23 games they played during the campaign. CC's offense wasn't great but it was the defense that caused the most trouble; the Tigers allowed an average of almost 8 goals per game. The next season the team saw a vast improvement in play and produced a winning season (12–11) for the first time in five years. Head coach Tony Frasca was named as the

National coach of the year The AFCA Coach of the Year Award is given annually to a college football coach by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). The award has had several different sponsors over the years, including Eastman Kodak Corporation, and thus also ...

for the quick turnaround but he resigned at the end of the season. As a senior Simus was relied on heavily by new bench boss Bob Johnson. Simus responded by leading the team in scoring and was named to the All-WCHA First Team and was an All-American. After graduating, Simus eventually joined the Army Rangers and served both in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. After leaving the military, Simus worked for

Electronic Data Systems Electronic all cash BSN acc: 1311729000110205 Data Systems (EDS) was an American multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Plano, Texas which was founded in 1962 by Ross Perot. The company was a subs ...

for 30 years.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simus, John 1943 births 2018 deaths American ice hockey forwards Ice hockey people from Minneapolis Colorado College Tigers men's ice hockey players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans United States Army Rangers United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War United States Army officers