Michael Richard Koken (April 5, 1909 – April 15, 1962) 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 at the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and halfback positions for Notre Dame from 1929 to 1932 and 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 ...

(NFL) for the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

in 1933. He also coached football at John Caroll University and

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

and participated in the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

as a member of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Early years

Koken was born in

Butler, Pennsylvania Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 13,502. History Butler was na ...

, in 1909. He attended South High School in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...

. He was the star of Youngstown South's undefeated 1927 football team.

Notre Dame

He played college football at Notre Dame from 1929 to 1932. Koken was known as being small and elusive. In 1931, ''The South Bend Tribune'' wrote: "Little Mike Koken was a swirling, twisting, elusive demon taking the ball for long gains time after time. He ran hard and low and several times it took two and three tacklers to bring him down." He suffered three cracked vertebrae in a 1931 game against Navy, but returned to the Notre Dame backfield in 1932.

Professional football

In 1933, he played professional football in the

(NFL) for the

. He started the season at

and was moved to halfback in November. He appeared in nine NFL games, four as a starter. He totaled 74 passing yards and one passing touchdown, 65 rushing yards, and kicked an extra point.

Coaching, World War II, and later years

After his playing career ended, he served as backfield coach to the

John Carroll University John Carroll University is a private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio. It is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution accompanied by the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business. John Carroll has an enrollment of 3, ...

football team and as the school's head basketball coach. In 1936, he accepted a position as the backfield coach for North Carolina State's football team. He worked for Tucker Freight Lines of

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

, from 1938 until his death in 1962. He also served in the Army 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 ...

, where he was part of the second wave on D-Day. Koken wrote that playing for

Knute Rockne Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

prepared him for combat:

When the going gets rough over here, I always recall Rock's words to me before and during a big game: 'Keep cool, calm and collected.' ... When we landed here, I had to march eight miles with a full pack, after wading ashore under fire in water up to my waist. It's a tough and rugged life, but when you've had three years of varsity football at Notre Dame, with every team you meet shooting at you, then you're prepared for the toughest stuff the Jerries can throw at you.

He later sustained serious injuries while fighting in France in August 1944. He died of a heart attack at age 53 while at the South Bend Country Club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koken, Mike 1909 births 1962 deaths People from South Bend, Indiana People from Butler, Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Chicago Cardinals players Players of American football from Pennsylvania