The Barometer Online

Issue date: 5/22/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Wick Former Beaver and NFL football player Rich Koeper left the game for a career at Hewlett-Packard. After 25 years at Hewlett-Packard, Koeper picked up a route driving buses in Corvallis for First Student. Koeper began driving buses in 2005.

By Patrick Chabreck

The Daily Barometer

Many NFL retirees call it quits in the working world after their days on the field are done, but 1967 Oregon State alumnus Rich Koeper finds post-career relaxation in driving school buses back in Corvallis.

Koeper was a promising professional football player for several years before injuries left him with no choice but to hang up his cleats and helmet for good.

Born in San Francisco and raised by his mother in Redwood City, Calif., Koeper found his first athletic passion on the baseball diamond. He grew up without a father around the house to influence him, but there were always coaches nearby to step in.

After his senior season at OSU in 1965, Koeper was drafted by the Green Bay Packers as an offensive lineman. His college football career ended after a loss to the University of Michigan in that season's Rose Bowl.

Koeper then went on to play five years of professional football in the U.S. and Canada. In 1967, he temporarily returned between seasons to finish one chemistry course so he could complete his undergraduate degree in education with a minor in counseling.

In 1973, Koeper permanently returned to Corvallis to earn his master's degree in health, and he married his wife Bobbye that same year. Koeper worked as a manager for the Hewlett-Packard Company for 25 years, but he found a more enjoyable way to spend his time in the later years. He signed on with First Student in 2005 and is still the guardian for dozens of children every day.

"To be honest, I never really expected to end up back here when I left for the NFL 45 years ago," Koeper said.

Rich's wife Bobbye has worked in the business office in the Memorial Union for 32 years, and Rich volunteered to help her out by issuing ID cards to students in 2005. While Koeper was handing cards out at the MU, he ran into an old friend who is a former dean of administration for OSU: Bill Brennan.

Continued...

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