Travis Edward Dorsch (born September 4, 1979) is a former American college and professional
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 ...
player turned academic who was
placekicker
Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter.
Spe ...
and
punter 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 two seasons during the early 2000s. He played
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
for
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, and was recognized as a consensus
All-American. The
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...
picked him in the fourth round of the
2002 NFL Draft
The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually sinc ...
, and he played professionally for the Bengals and
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 ...
of the NFL, and the
Rhein Fire
Rhein may refer to:
Places
* Rhine, a major river in Europe (german: Rhein, link=no)
* Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
* Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland
Ships
* SM ...
of NFL Europa.
Early years
Dorsch was born in
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
. He attended
Bozeman High School
Bozeman High School (or BHS) is a public high school for grades 9 through 12 located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the second-oldest high school in the state of Montana.Burlingame, p. 321. In 2011, it had an enrollment of roughly 1,844 students, and ...
in
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...
, and was a letterman in
high school football
High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
, and
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 ...
for the Bozeman Hawks. He also played four years of American Legion baseball for the Bozeman Bucks as a starting first baseman and pitcher. He holds several state records including the longest field goal in state history (fifth-longest in the national high school annals) at 63 yards.
College career
While attending
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
in
West Lafayette, Indiana
West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city, ...
, Dorsch played for both the
Purdue Boilermakers football
The Purdue Boilermakers football team represents Purdue University in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. Purdue plays its home games at Ross–Ade Stadium on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. ...
team and the
Boilermakers baseball team. While playing for the Boilermakers football team from 1998 to 2001, Dorsch set many records including career scoring (355 points), career field goals (69), and career punting average (48.4). He became the first
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
athlete to be named as a first-team all-conference selection as both a punter and a placekicker. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American punter, having received first-team honors from the
American Football Coaches Association
The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...
,
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
,
Walter Camp Foundation
The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...
and
CNNSI
CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports news network. It was created by Time Warner, merging together its CNN and ''Sports Illustrated'' brands and related resources. It was launched on December 12, 1996.
Other news networks like E ...
. He also and won the
Ray Guy Award
The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding punter as adjudged by the Augusta Sports Council. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National Foo ...
for the nation's outstanding punter, and received first-team All-American honors as a placekicker from ''
Football News
A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best coll ...
'' and ''
The Sporting News
The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...
''. He is the only athlete in Purdue history to have kicked a field goal and thrown a touchdown in football, and hit a home run and recorded a win as a pitcher in baseball.
[
]
Professional career
As a football player, Dorsch was drafted in the fourth round (111th overall pick) in the 2002 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. His only NFL experience came with the Bengals in 2002. He had 5 punts, averaging just 32.4 as an injury replacement for starter Nick Harris. Dorsch was a member of the 2004 Green Bay Packers playoff roster and was a practice squad member with the Minnesota Vikings in 2004. He spent 2005 and 2006 competing in NFL Europe as a punter for the Rhein Fire in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Life after football
Dorsch is currently an associate professor at Utah State University
Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
in Logan, Utah. He pursued graduate studies at Purdue and completed his doctorate in Sports and Exercise Psychology in 2013. After retiring from football in 2006, he has focused his competitive energies on the sport of triathlon
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...
and has finished nine Ironman races worldwide.
As a professor, Dorsch is the founding director of the Families in Sport Lab at Utah State University and has published more than 30 scholarly articles, all of which can be downloaded on his lab's website: .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsch, Travis
1979 births
Living people
American football placekickers
American football punters
Cincinnati Bengals players
Green Bay Packers players
Minnesota Vikings players
New England Patriots players
New York Giants players
Purdue Boilermakers baseball players
Purdue Boilermakers football players
Rhein Fire players
All-American college football players
Utah State University faculty
Sportspeople from Bozeman, Montana
Players of American football from Montana
Players of American football from San Diego