Travis Edward Dorsch (born September 4, 1979) is an American former professional

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 ...

punter who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

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 ...

for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname ...

, where he 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 Fo ...

and was recognized as a consensus

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

. He was selected by 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

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 professional football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted ...

Early life

Dorsch was born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. He attended

Bozeman High School Bozeman High School (or BHS) is a State school, public High school#United States, 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 2024, it had an ...

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

, and was a letterman in

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

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 (appro ...

, and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

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 university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette ( ) is a city in Wabash and Tippecanoe Townships, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, approximately northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash ...

, 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, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

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 not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

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 f ...

and

CNNSI CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports news network. Created when Time Warner merged its CNN and ''Sports Illustrated'' brands, it launched on December 12, 1996. Other news networks like ESPNews provided 30-minute blocks of new ...

. He also and won the

for the nation's outstanding punter, and received first-team All-American honors as a placekicker from ''

Football News ''The Football News'', founded in 1939, was a weekly tabloid newspaper covering collegiate and professional football. The publication was designated by the NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organizati ...

'' 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 ...

''. 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

Cincinnati Bengals

Dorsch was selected by the

in the fourth round, with the 111th overall pick, of the

. He officially signed with the team on July 25, 2002. His only NFL game came with the Bengals in 2002. He had 5 punts, averaging just 32.4 as an injury replacement for starter Nick Harris. Dorsch was waived on August 31, 2003.

New England Patriots

Dorsch was signed to the practice squad of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

on December 10, 2003. He was released on December 15, 2003.

Green Bay Packers

Dorsch signed with the

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

on January 10, 2004, during the playoffs. However, he did not play in any games and was waived on July 30, 2004.

Minnesota Vikings

Dorsch was signed by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

on August 3, 2004. He was waived on August 31 and signed to the practice squad on September 7 before being released on September 21, 2004. Dorsch signed a reserve/future contract with the Vikings on January 31, 2005. He was allocated to

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

, where he played for the

Rhein Fire Rhein Fire may refer to either of two American football franchises: * Rhein Fire (NFL Europe) The Rhein Fire were a professional football team in the NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Düsseldorf, Germany ...

during the

2005 NFL Europe season The 2005 NFL Europe season was the 13th season in 15 years of the American Football league that started out as the World League of American Football. The Hamburg Sea Devils replaced the Scottish Claymores for the 2005 season. World Bowl XIII ...

. He played in all 10 games for the Fire, punting 39 times for 1,676 yards and an average of 43.0, earning All-NFL Europe honors. Dorsch was waived by the Vikings on September 3, 2005.

New York Giants

Dorsch signed a reserve/future contract with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

on January 4, 2006. He was allocated to NFL Europe again in 2006, returning to play for the Fire. He appeared in all 10 games, punting 50 times for 1,921 yards and an average of 38.4. Dorsch was waived by the Giants on August 29, 2006.

Life after football

Dorsch is currently an associate professor at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

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 ...

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
www.FamiliesInSportLab.usu.edu
Dorsch is also head coach of the Cache Valley Ski Team (CVST).

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 Bozeman High School alumni