Dick Kempthorn
Dick Kempthorn 1948
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| Position: | Fullback |
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| Personal information | |
| Date of birth: | October 23, 1926 |
| Place of birth: | Canton, Ohio |
| Career information | |
| College: | Michigan |
Richard James "Dick" Kempthorn (born October 23, 1926) is a former collegiate athlete, Air Force pilot, and businessman from Canton, Ohio, US. He played college football on the undefeated national champion 1947 and 1948 Michigan Wolverines football teams and was the Most Valuable Player on the 1949 team. He later served as a jet fighter pilot in the Korean War where he received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He turned down an opportunity to play professional football to join his father in the automobile business. Over the next 50 years, Kempthorn built a series of automobile dealerships in Canton, Ohio.
Kempthorn is a native of Canton, Ohio. He played high school football for Canton McKinley High School. Kempthorn was a starter at quarterback and linebacker in high school, and in two years of varsity football, his teams went 16-2-2 and won a state championship.
After graduating from high school, he was admitted to the United States Merchant Marine Academy in San Mateo, California. Before starting at the Academy, Kempthorn attended the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he played in six football games for the Redskins under Coach Sid Gillman.
After several weeks of training at the Merchant Marine Academy, Kempthorn was assigned to serve as an engine cadet on the crew of the cargo ship, USS Wild Hunter, which participated in the invasion of the Philippines.
After the end of World War II, Kempthorn visited Michigan and decided to transfer to Michigan rather than returning to complete his studies at the Merchant Marine Academy. Unable to play in 1946 due to the transfer rule, Kempthorn played with Coach Wally Weber's team of reserve players and ineligibles. When Kempthorn laid out two varsity players in a scrimmage, Coach Fritz Crisler reportedly told Weber to "get that wild man out of there." Weber said, "He's the roughest young man we've had around here since the late Bill Hewitt. He's strewn the landscape with football humanity."
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