Joseph Howard Romig (born April 11, 1941) is an American former
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
as a
Rhodes Scholar
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world.
Esta ...
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
in 1941; his parents divorced when he was young, and his mother died of cancer when he was a junior in high school. His paternal grandfather was Joseph H. Romig, a notable missionary doctor in Alaska. Romig attended Lakewood High School in
Lakewood, Colorado
Lakewood is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 15 ...
, where he played
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
champion in his weight class.
College career
Romig then attended the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
, where he played on the Buffaloes football team. He was a member of the varsity for the 1959–1961 seasons, playing as guard on offense and
linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...
on defense. Romig was selected as captain of the 1961 team, his senior season. The Buffaloes had regular-season records of 5–5, 7–3, and 9–1 during his three seasons, during which the team was coached by Sonny Grandelius. Romig's uniform number of 67 was retired by the Colorado Buffaloes following his senior season.
Romig appeared in one
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...
Big Eight Conference
The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...
teams each of his varsity seasons, and he was a consensus selection to
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term '' All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Footbal ...
s during his junior and senior seasons.
Personal life
Scholastically, Romig majored in
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
at Colorado, and maintained a 3.9
grade point average
Grading in education is the application of standardized Measurement, measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentage ...
. After graduating, he attended the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
as a
Rhodes Scholar
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world.
Esta ...
. He earned a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
from Oxford in
plasma physics
Plasma () is a state of matter characterized by the presence of a significant portion of charged particles in any combination of ions or electrons. It is the most abundant form of ordinary matter in the universe, mostly in stars (including th ...
in 1965. He then returned to the U.S. and worked for Martin Marietta while also pursuing a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in astrogeophysics at Colorado; he earned his Ph.D. in the mid-1970s. In 1975, he went to work as a consultant for venture capitalists, then in 1980 he started to do forensic investigations of fires and explosions. As of 2014, Romig was still doing consulting work in the fire investigation industry. He taught astronomy in
continuing education
Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada.
Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...
at Colorado for 34 years.
Romig was first married circa 1966 after completing his Oxford studies; that marriage ended in divorce after seven years. He later remarried—his second wife, Barbara, worked for the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History for 40 years. Romig has served as a member of that museum's advisory board.