Travis Dorsch

Dorsch was born in San Diego, California. After moving to Bozeman, Montana in his youth, he attended Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Montana, and was a letterman in high school football, basketball, and track and field 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.^[2][3]

While attending Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, Dorsch played for both the Purdue Boilermakers football 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 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, Associated Press, Walter Camp Foundation and CNNSI.^[4] He also and won the Ray Guy Award for the nation's outstanding punter, and received first-team All-American honors as a placekicker from Football News and The Sporting News. He is the only athlete in Purdue history, and is believed to be the only athlete other than Jim Thorpe, 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.^[3]

Dorsch was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round, with the 111th overall pick, of the 2002 NFL draft.^[5] 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 32.4 yards as a replacement for starter Nick Harris against the Carolina Panthers. Dorsch was waived on August 31, 2003.^[6]

Dorsch was signed to the practice squad of the New England Patriots on December 10, 2003. He was released on December 15, 2003.^[6]

Dorach signed with the Green Bay Packers on January 10, 2004 during the playoffs. However, he did not play in any games and was waived on July 30, 2004.^[6]

Dorsch was signed by the Minnesota Vikings 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.^[6]

Dorsch signed a reserve/future contract with the Vikings on January 31, 2005.^[6] He was allocated to NFL Europe, where he played for the Rhein Fire during the 2005 NFL Europe season. 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.^[1] Dorsch was waived by the Vikings on September 3, 2005.^[6]

Dorsch signed a reserve/future contract with the New York Giants on January 4, 2006.^[6] 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.^[1] Dorsch was waived by the Giants on August 29, 2006.^[6]

Dorsch is currently an associate professor at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He pursued graduate studies at Purdue and completed his doctorate in Sports and Exercise Psychology in 2013.^[7] After retiring from football in 2006, he has focused his competitive energies on the sport of triathlon 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 50 scholarly articles, all of which can be downloaded on his lab's website: www.FamiliesInSportLab.usu.edu.

Dorsch is also the club director for Cache Valley Ski Team (CVST), where is two children, Josie and Bridger, race.