ARKANSAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME: GREG KOCH

Ex-Hog lineman to get gang together for honor

Greg Koch

Third in a series profiling the 11 members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame class of 2016. The induction ceremony will be held March 4.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Greg Koch will be back where he belongs at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame banquet March 4 in Little Rock.

Koch has asked Arkansas offensive line mates Leotis Harris, Richard LaFargue, Gerald Skinner and R.C. Thielemann to surround him at his table for the induction ceremony at the Statehouse Convention Center.

Greg Koch glance

BIRTHDATE June 14, 1955 (60)

HOMETOWN Houston

POSITION Offensive tackle

NOTEWORTHY Previously inducted into University of Arkansas Hall of Honor (2010) and Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame (2010). … Starter for three-plus seasons and first-team All-Southwest Conference in 1976. … Member of the Razorbacks’ All-Decade team of the 1970s. … Played in All-America Bowl after 1976 season. … Second-round draft pick for Green Bay and played nine seasons in the NFL with the Packers (1977-1985), Miami Dolphins (1986-1987) and Minnesota Vikings (1987). … Second-team All-Pro selection in 1982. … Earned law degree from UA and worked as an attorney for 20 years. … Currently stars on In The Trenches with former NFL player N.D. Kalu on SportsTalk 790 in Houston. The show airs from 10 a.m. to noon.

"I have a lot of history with these guys," said Koch, a Houston native who started for 31/2 seasons for the Razorbacks before embarking on an 11-year NFL career, including the first nine with the Green Bay Packers. "This will be about us. This isn't an individual award, it's really a group award."

The Arkansas offensive line of 2015 has had publicity and acclaim bestowed on it, but there might not have been a better Razorback front than the group from 1974-1976. All five of the starters were drafted by NFL teams.

Koch, Skinner and Thielemann came in as freshmen in 1973 after LaFargue's first year, and Harris joined the group the next season.

"R.C. and I went to high school together, and then we went to college together," Koch said. "I met Gerald my freshman year, and I've known Richard and all of these guys for 40 years. Leotis, he came in as a freshman when I was a sophomore, and he came to Green Bay and we were roommates on the road for six years.

"There's no group that has to be more cohesive than the offensive line, and I had the joy and pleasure of playing with these other four guys to the point where Ike Forte and Jerry Eckwood, who also played in the NFL, said they never played behind a better offensive line than they had in college. I take that as a supreme compliment, and I owe it to my teammates and the talent they had as well."

Koch's exploits in and out of football could fill a book. He returned to Arkansas after his NFL career, which included stops with the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings after his stay in Green Bay, and earned a law degree.

Koch was a practicing attorney for 20 years before deciding to push forward with a budding career as a radio sports talk show personality in Houston.

"As a lawyer, you're in a constant fight all day," Koch said. "You fight with your clients over your fees. You fight with trial coordinators over dates. You fight with other lawyers. It's just a constant argument if you're a trial lawyer.

"You know, I just had my fill of it. Luckily I was able to do something else. I had a pretty diverse background, so I really love what I'm doing right now. At the end of my law career, I wasn't loving it, so everything's worked out really well."

Koch and his line mates were well-known pranksters, giving then-trainer Dean Weber, a freshman quarterback named Houston Nutt and even position coach Ken Turner occasional dips in the whirlpool.

"Coach Turner, he would pull me into his office and say, 'Greg Koch, you can be a hell of a player, but son, you've got to settle down.' He thought I was too wild," Koch said.

Turner said the whirlpool dunks were all in fun, but he got a bigger kick out of the time against Baylor, when kicker Steve Little had been knocked out of the game, that Koch talked Coach Frank Broyles into letting him run with a two-point conversion.

"So he carried the football, and somebody hit him and his feet went about as high as his head and the ball went the other direction," Turner said. "He never asked to run the ball again, though."

Koch said the story of him engaging in an epic drinking battle with pro wrestler Lex Luger, who was on the Packers' roster behind Koch for a short time, is true, but his discussion about who won is brief.

"Well, I was in it, wasn't I?" Koch said.

On a more serious note, Koch said he wishes his mother and father, Sue and George, were alive to see the halls of fame portion of his career. Koch was inducted into the UA sports Hall of Honor and the Packers Hall of Fame within a few months of each other in 2010.

"My dad did not want me to go to Arkansas," Koch said. "He didn't talk to me for about a month. He thought a Texas boy should stay in Texas. And then he became the biggest Razorback fan you've ever seen."

Koch said he's enjoying his job on a midday radio show with former Rice and Houston Texans player N.D. Kalu on SportsTalk 790 AM.

"I'm having a lot of fun right now, so life is good," he said. "I wish my parents were around to see me going into these halls of fame. I know they're looking down from above and they're very proud."

Sports on 02/10/2016