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Spotlight on Football - John Pircon
10/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
October 17, 2007
Among the quarterback candidates for the Dartmouth Pea Green freshman football team in the fall of 1975 were Richard Pircon and a certain nimble-footed quarterback from Boston's South Shore.
Pircon switched over to safety and after a knee problem, eventually turned his attention from football to the classroom. Today he's a medical doctor in Wisconsin.
The other quarterback, fellow by the name of Buddy Teevens, would eventually graduate to the varsity and in 1978 win the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League player of the year. Today, of course, he's the Dartmouth head coach.
Asked if he might have been responsible for how Richard Pircon's football career played out, Teevens laughed and said, “He hasn't put it to me that way.”
Not that he hasn't had the chance. Pircon has been in Hanover for each home game this fall to watch his son John, a hard-hitting free safety under his old teammate.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior has been a three-year starter for the Big Green and is on pace to crack the school's top-15 list for career tackles.
“His dad is a good friend and a sharp, sharp guy,” Teevens said. “John has a lot of the same qualities: hard-working, dedicated, unassuming. He just does his job and he does it well.”
John Pircon doesn't remember coming to Hanover for any of his father's ? and future coach's ? class reunions, but that doesn't mean Dartmouth wasn't part of his life from an early age. His house, he said with a chuckle, “has tons of Dartmouth stuff.
“I remember wearing a Dartmouth letterman jacket when I was like five-years-old.”
Still, he didn't grow up dreaming of following his father's footsteps to the Ivy League campus even after Dartmouth was a stop on the family's summer college tour.
“Although I loved it I wasn't really considering it before my senior year,” he said. “But I had a pretty good senior season and when Dartmouth sent me a letter that really kind of piqued my interest.”
After looking at Boston College, Duke, Notre Dame and Wisconsin ? with an offer to walk on at several of the schools ? he decided on Dartmouth and made an immediate impact. As a freshman he got into seven games and made 10 tackles. After Teevens took over as head coach before his sophomore year, Pircon finished third on the team with 75 tackles. He had 72 stops a year ago, including 11 against Cornell and 10 against Holy Cross, and finished his junior season being voted All-Ivy honorable mention.
Through the first four games this year he was second on the team with 41 tackles, second in pass breakups with four and had a fumble return for 11 yards. “I feel fortunate I was able to play early and play a considerable amount all four years,” Pircon said. “I really feel good about that. But it's frustrating not having had the success we want yet as a team. We want that Ivy League championship. That's what it really is all about.”
After All-Ivy League safety Ian Wilson was injured in the win over Penn, Pircon took on added responsibilities as a leader. “He can handle anything we put before him,” Teevens said. “He's playing well and playing with a lot of confidence. He's injury free for the first time in a long time and that's making a huge difference.”
Something else making a difference: Pircon can concentrate on football and his schoolwork these days without worrying about corporate interviews and job prospects. “I'll be working at Robert W. Baird & Company back in Milwaukee as an investment banking analyst after graduation,” the economics major who interned at the firm said a few days before the Holy Cross game. “I signed on about three weeks ago. It kind of takes a little bit of pressure off senior year.” With a job already lined up back home, Pircon and his father will surely have a few war stories to share some day soon about their days in the trenches with Teevens. Pircon, fils, can't wait.
“I haven't heard any stories yet,” he said with a laugh. “My dad said he won't tell me any until I'm not playing.”
Sharp, sharp guy that Dr. Pircon. (Bruce Wood)
John Pircon's recruiting trip to Dartmouth was made possible by the generosity of Derek A. McDowell '88 and the Dartmouth Class of 1939 through the Athletic Sponsor Program.
Among the quarterback candidates for the Dartmouth Pea Green freshman football team in the fall of 1975 were Richard Pircon and a certain nimble-footed quarterback from Boston's South Shore.
Pircon switched over to safety and after a knee problem, eventually turned his attention from football to the classroom. Today he's a medical doctor in Wisconsin.
The other quarterback, fellow by the name of Buddy Teevens, would eventually graduate to the varsity and in 1978 win the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League player of the year. Today, of course, he's the Dartmouth head coach.
Asked if he might have been responsible for how Richard Pircon's football career played out, Teevens laughed and said, “He hasn't put it to me that way.”
Not that he hasn't had the chance. Pircon has been in Hanover for each home game this fall to watch his son John, a hard-hitting free safety under his old teammate.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior has been a three-year starter for the Big Green and is on pace to crack the school's top-15 list for career tackles.
“His dad is a good friend and a sharp, sharp guy,” Teevens said. “John has a lot of the same qualities: hard-working, dedicated, unassuming. He just does his job and he does it well.”
John Pircon doesn't remember coming to Hanover for any of his father's ? and future coach's ? class reunions, but that doesn't mean Dartmouth wasn't part of his life from an early age. His house, he said with a chuckle, “has tons of Dartmouth stuff.
“I remember wearing a Dartmouth letterman jacket when I was like five-years-old.”
Still, he didn't grow up dreaming of following his father's footsteps to the Ivy League campus even after Dartmouth was a stop on the family's summer college tour.
“Although I loved it I wasn't really considering it before my senior year,” he said. “But I had a pretty good senior season and when Dartmouth sent me a letter that really kind of piqued my interest.”
After looking at Boston College, Duke, Notre Dame and Wisconsin ? with an offer to walk on at several of the schools ? he decided on Dartmouth and made an immediate impact. As a freshman he got into seven games and made 10 tackles. After Teevens took over as head coach before his sophomore year, Pircon finished third on the team with 75 tackles. He had 72 stops a year ago, including 11 against Cornell and 10 against Holy Cross, and finished his junior season being voted All-Ivy honorable mention.
Through the first four games this year he was second on the team with 41 tackles, second in pass breakups with four and had a fumble return for 11 yards. “I feel fortunate I was able to play early and play a considerable amount all four years,” Pircon said. “I really feel good about that. But it's frustrating not having had the success we want yet as a team. We want that Ivy League championship. That's what it really is all about.”
After All-Ivy League safety Ian Wilson was injured in the win over Penn, Pircon took on added responsibilities as a leader. “He can handle anything we put before him,” Teevens said. “He's playing well and playing with a lot of confidence. He's injury free for the first time in a long time and that's making a huge difference.”
Something else making a difference: Pircon can concentrate on football and his schoolwork these days without worrying about corporate interviews and job prospects. “I'll be working at Robert W. Baird & Company back in Milwaukee as an investment banking analyst after graduation,” the economics major who interned at the firm said a few days before the Holy Cross game. “I signed on about three weeks ago. It kind of takes a little bit of pressure off senior year.” With a job already lined up back home, Pircon and his father will surely have a few war stories to share some day soon about their days in the trenches with Teevens. Pircon, fils, can't wait.
“I haven't heard any stories yet,” he said with a laugh. “My dad said he won't tell me any until I'm not playing.”
Sharp, sharp guy that Dr. Pircon. (Bruce Wood)
John Pircon's recruiting trip to Dartmouth was made possible by the generosity of Derek A. McDowell '88 and the Dartmouth Class of 1939 through the Athletic Sponsor Program.
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