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rtimuiiary victory is jusi aneaa,j any tiling in the past/'i wens sufterea a oacK strain, auvionaay on nis injured anKie. jViet Sniper Stops Former Football Hero(Dodge City Star Cut Downfnhase:heda11tfrrBy DAVID De LANDDODGE CITY—In 1965, Lews Dorsey Jr., 17, a stocky Dodge City High School fallback picked up his third football letter while bulling his way throughopponents to become the leading rusher in the West Central Kansas League.Last Tuesday Army Pfc. Lewis R. Dorsey Jr., 20, was cut down by enemy fire in Vietnam while taking over an enemy bunker. He had been in Vietnam since Sept., 1S67.Dorsey had been offered several college football scholarships, but he wanted to get his service obligation over with. He was on the first string West Central all-conference, football team. In the spring of 1966, he picked up his third track letter just before graduation.He even had his college chosen, Emporia State, but his dreams were snuffed out by a sniper’s bullet.Dorsey, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis R. Dorsey Sr., of Emporia, spent his entire high school career at Boys’ Ranchin Dodge City.“Lewis just started school there as a freshman and liked it so well he continued through until he graduated,” his father said when contacted at Emporia Monday night.him. . . I liked several tilingsabout him. He and my son Earle got along as if they were brothers.’’up before he entered the serv-Don Hubbard, director of Boys Ranch at Dodge City, knew Lewis about as well as anyone did:“He was a pretty fine boy, a very good athlete. He had real inner honesty and integrity.”Dorsey was Negro. He was short, only about 5-7, but he was a stocky kid. Yet, he never was cocky around Ills friends.Mrs. Earlie Nash, Dodge City foster-mother of Lewis whilehe was at Boys Ranch had this to say about him:“He wanted everyone to like‘Most Outstanding’Don Hubbard at Boys Ranch remembered that Dorsey was “just an average student, but he was most outstanding in athletics.”“He worked hard at athletics, spent a lot of time in the gym, and did a lot of weight-lifting,” Hubbard said. “He was quite well respected by the o t h e r boys.”“In his senior year, he helped supervise the younger boys in the gymnasium,’ Hubbard added.ice.J *“Dorsey had hopes of getting his army obligation out of the way and then becoming either a social worker or a physical education director,” he said.“He had gone steady with a Dodge City girl but they brokeHubbard remembered thatDorsey always visited the ranch on his furloughs and stopped by on his way to Vietnam. “He. always wanted to work out in the gym when he came. . .and the other feUows weTe always glad to see him, he was just that kind of a kid.”His high school football coach of two years, J. C. Riek-enbsrg told The News, “He was a good kid, and a fine athlete. He was a real good football player, and a good track man . . .and he was strong, he was only 5-7 but weighed about 170 pounds.‘Good Speed’Riekenberg noted that Dorsey was “a fanatic at weight-lifting”, and said of his football ability, “he had good speedand could ‘hit’ a hole as fast*as any player I ever had/*Dorsey is survived by his parents, a brother Alfonso, and a sister Brenda Kay. He will be buried at Emporia.mi35,SUJtKantrapitBuonothbalt;ficbrc1anlt;troditlt;SIN«DbituK;ylt;
Newspaper Details
Hutchinson News
Hutchinson, Kansas, US
Tue, Mar 19, 1968
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Sam S.
NA, 23 Aug 2022
Other Publications Near Hutchinson, Kansas
Hutchinson Gazette
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