Ken Eurek was a quarterback with a rifle arm with the teams
at Nebraska School for the Deaf and at Gallaudet.
At Nebraska he steered his 1968 Nebraska team to an
unbeaten season in all-hearing schedule.
In the last game of the season, the contest was close,
Nebraska was leading but the opponents were marching
towards the goal line in the dying seconds.
It all boiled down to the last play, fourth down with few
yards to go for touchdown. The opponents ran an end
sweep, three blockers aiming for Eurek, who was playing
as defensive back. Eurek dove through the middle of these
three blockers and nailed the ball carrier, just short of
the goal line.
Gallaudet was a big challenge for him (1969 to 1972)
as he never played 11-man football in his life. His
school only played 8-man. Yet, the quarterbacking
responsibilities weighed heavily on his rifle arm.
In 1969, Eurek’s 16-yard touchdown pass in the dying
seconds helped defeat DC Teachers College 15-14 for
the only win of the season. The receiver who caught
the winning pass was Ken Pedersen, who later became
his brother-in-law!
In 1970, he steered Gallaudet to a 3-win season for
most wins in a season since the 6-win season in 1930.
In 1971, Gallaudet only won one game, but it was a
big one; Eurek steering the Dirty Thirty team to a
10-6 win over Cheyney University, a NCAA-II team.
In 1972, Eurek steered Gallaudet to a 2-win season.
Opponents knew who Eurek was and they geared their
defenses to try to stop his bullet passes.
Afte graduating from Gallaudet, he was the
assistant coach with the Colorado School for the
Deaf and Blind football team which won the
state 8-man football championship in 1977 in
the most worst and most miserable weather
conditions possible. The game should never have
been played except that it was a state championship game!
And then during the eighties and nineties, Ken
got involved with badminton as part of the USA
Deaflympics program.
For a number of years Ken coached the girls’
basketball team at the Colorado School.
According to maxpreps, he was the winningest
girls’ coach in school history.
The Gallaudet 100th anniversary Football Book
in 1994 named Eurek as one of the top five
Bison quarterbacks ever.
When not busy with sports, he taught sign language
classes in the Colorado Springs area.
We will always miss you, Ken!