Dick Packer

Richard Packer played several sports in his youth, but focused on baseball and soccer upon matriculating to Penn State University. After two years, he stopped playing baseball and went on win national collegiate soccer titles in 1954 and 1955, being named to the All-American first team both years. He was selected to represent the United States in the tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Games but, as the American team was eliminated 9-1 by the upcoming silver medalists from Yugoslavia in its first match, he did not see any playing time.

Packer was briefly a member of Philadelphia’s Uhrik Truckers and won an American Soccer League title with them in 1956. After graduating with a degree in hotel management, he spent three years in the Air Force, before returning to the Truckers and playing with them through most of the 1960s. He remained active in the sport long after his retirement from active competition, as he founded the Packer Soccer Camp with American football player Pete Gogolak in 1978 and kept it running for over four decades. By career he worked in the travel business, and in 1996 he helped carry the Olympic torch on its way to the Atlanta Olympics.