David Allen Kocourek (August 20, 1937 – April 24, 2013) was an American

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

player. 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Career

As a professional, he played for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

(CFL) in 1959, and then played for nine years as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL), from 1960 through 1965 for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers; for the AFL's

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

in 1966; and for the AFL's

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

in 1967 and 1968. He caught 55 passes for 1,055 yards in 1961 for 19.2 yards per reception, helping the Chargers win their second straight AFL West title. He was an

AFL All-Star The American Football League All-Star game was the annual game which featured each year's best performers in the American Football League (AFL). The game was first played in 1961 and the final AFL All-Star game occurred in 1969, prior to the leagu ...

for four straight years, from 1961 through 1964, and was on the Charger team that defeated the

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

for the

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

AFL Championship. He played in seven AFL Championship Games, the only man to do so; with the Chargers in 1960 and 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1965; and the

in 1967 and 1968, winning one with each team. He was selected second-team tight end on the

American Football League All-Time Team The American Football League (AFL) All-Time Team was selected on January 14, 1970. The first and second teams were determined by a panel of members of the AFL's Hall of Fame Board of Selectors: Offense Defense Special teams Coach See also ...

. Kocourek participated in nine playoff games in a span of seven seasons, catching 15 passes for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns. Kocourek served as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's AFL and NFL telecasts in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and teamed up with

Mark Champion Mark Champion (born August 8, 1950) is an American radio sportscaster who is the current primary radio play-by-play voice of the Detroit Pistons, a position he has served in since 2001. When the Pistons are on national television, however, George ...

to broadcast

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

games on the radio in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Kocourek died on April 24, 2013, in

Marco Island, Florida Marco Island is a small sea island, or barrier island, on the Gulf Coast of the United States located 20 miles (32 km) south of Naples in Collier County, Florida. Marco Island is an affluent beach and boating resort island with a small-town ...

after suffering from progressive dementia. His brain has been donated to

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) for further examination as part of the NFL's ongoing concussion study.http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/apr/25/nfl-former-tight-end-dave-kocourek-dies-of-brain/

See More

List of American Football League players The following is a list of men who played for the American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969). Players A B C D Elbert Dubenion E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Notes Player notes 1,398 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kocourek, Dave 1937 births 2013 deaths American football tight ends American players of Canadian football American Football League announcers Los Angeles Chargers players Miami Dolphins players National Football League announcers Oakland Raiders players San Diego Chargers players Tampa Bay Buccaneers announcers Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Wisconsin Badgers football players American Football League All-Star players American Football League All-Time Team Sportspeople from Chicago Players of American football from Chicago Players of Canadian football from Chicago American Football League players