David Allen Kocourek (August 20, 1937 – April 24, 2013) was an American gridiron football player. He played college football at

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 ci ...

(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 (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 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 for four straight years, from 1961 through 1964, and was on the Charger team that defeated the Boston Patriots 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 For its first nine seasons, 1960 through 1968, the American Football League determined its champion via a single playoff game between the winners of its two divisions (although ties in the standings in 1963 (Eastern) and 1968 (Western) necessitat ...

. 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 Oakland Raiders in 1967 and 1968, winning one with each team. He was selected second-team tight end on the American Football League All-Time Team. 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 after suffering from progressive dementia. His brain has been donated to

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, 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 ...

'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