By David Smotherman, Jr.
Editor--MocFans.com

When I added the list of UC players that went on the pros to the Mocfans history section, the media guide confessed that this was only a partial listing and their were probably other players, dates, and teams not listed.  So being the researcher/historian that I am, I couldn't wait to dive in to "discover" more about some of the more mysterious player on the list. 

The first one that caught my attention was some guy named Joe Kopcha.  All the Media Guide said was that Joe played for the Chicago Bears and that he was an All-Pro (not to mention a member of the UC Hall of Fame).  So I decided to ride the information super-highway, which for me is the search engine Google. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting too much and my initial search supported my instincts.  Only about 12 hits, must of which had nothing to do with Joe.  However, I found two interesting sites, one was a database dedicated to listing old (before WWII) NFL players, the other was a website for the PFRA, Pro Football Research Association.

The first website was interesting because it showed that Joe played in 72 NFL games over 6 seasons.  Not being a huge NFL fan, at least not of teams playing when my grandfather was only an infant, I did notice a couple of other "names" from the Chicago roster.  Namely, "Red" Grange and Coach George Halas.  This database also revealed that Joe played one final season with the Detroit Lions.

I was already excited because I had "found" more information on Joe than the media guide had listed.  I had the years that he played and the addition of a season with Detroit.  At this point I went to the PFRA website.

What a gold-mine of information!  I quickly found that it wasn't just Joe Kopcha, but Doctor Joe Kopcha, and lucky for me, he was a founding member of the PFRA who mission is to preserve the history of the early NFL.

I began by searching the article database on the PFRA site.  This yielded three wonderful articles about Dr. Joe:
 
Dr. Joe: A Guard's Guard
Dr. Joe: The Last Renaissance Man
Joe Kopcha Recalls the 1932 Title Game

The above articles go into great detail about life and playing career of Dr. Joe, I have created my own synopsis below, but you really have to read the original text for some of the great stories he tells from that era.

What an amazing athlete AND scholar.  At Chattanooga he received a total of ten letters.  Three each in Football, Basketball, and Track, and one in Swimming.  During his three letter years in football the Mocs were 24-5 and won 3 SIAA Championships.  During this run, UC claimed a 70-0 victory over Louisville and a 14-13 win over VPI, what is now Virginia Tech. 

He graduated in 1929 and started with the Bears while working towards his medical degree.  NFL Hall of Fame Coach George Halas signed Dr. Joe for $100 a game (and a bonus of $20 because he aided the trainer).  His roommate was Hall of Fame player "Red" Grange and he also played with Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski. 

As a medical student, his dedication to injury prevention was evident.  Dr. Joe is credited with helping to invent what was then the precursor to the "modern" shoulder pad.  Throughout his first season, he would constantly re-work his "custom" shoulder pads, especially in the joint and clavicle areas.

After the 1929 season, he left Chicago for the University of Alabama Medical School, but after two years away, he returned to the Bears in 1932. 

At first Halas was reluctant to re-sign Dr. Joe, but Kopcha proved he still had the fire and ability to play in the pros.  At the same time he enrolled at Chicago's Rush Medical College. 

While his playing career was relatively short, he managed to play in some of the most memorable games of his era.  In 1932, Dr. Joe was the starting Guard on a Bears team that won a championship that was determined by the top two teams in the league playing each other.  In am odd twist, the losing team actually dropped to third in the standings after the game!  Halas' Bears beat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in an indoor game on an shortened, 80-yard, dirt field at Chicago Stadium. 

In 1933 the "Monsters of the Midway" team that boasted 6 future NFL Hall of Fame players won what was considered the first playoff championship (the league had split into an East and West conference) by defeating the New York Giants 23-21 at Wrigley Field. 

In 1934, the Bears had an undefeated regular season and lost to the Giants at the Polo Grounds in what is now know as the "Sneaker Game".  The field was a sheet of ice and the Giants put on basketball shoes at halftime to gain better traction, winning the game 30-13.  Most old-timers consider that Bears team the best ever to NOT win a championship. 

Dr. Joe was named an All-Pro from 1932-1935.  After the 1935 season he asked to be traded to Detroit where he was finishing his medical internship.  Halas agreed to the trade and to his dismay the Lions beat the Bears that season.  Halas has been reported as saying on numerous occasions that it was the worst trade he had ever made. 

After the 1936 season Dr. Joe left Pro Football for good and finished his post-graduate work at Western Reserve University.  During WWII he was commissioned has a Major and served 21 months in Australia, the Philippines, and New Guinea. 

After the war he returned to Gary, Indiana where he was president of the Lake County Medical Society.  He later "retired" back to Hobart were he still practiced medicine until late into his life.  He died in 1986 at the age of 80.

He is a member of the Indiana State All of Fame and the UC Hall of Fame.