Colorado University Athletics
Tracy was a dominant force at guard in the mid-60's for the Buffaloes
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Trailblazing Buff, Kirk Tracy, Passes Away
October 10, 2024 | Football, Alumni C Club
Credited with introducing weightlifting to the athletic program
BOULDER — Kirk Tracy, who his University of Colorado football teammates always said, "he was ahead of his time," passed away after a long illness here on October 1. He was 78.
Tracy was a three-year starter at offensive guard, earning second-team All-American honors as a senior in 1967, when he helped lead the Buffaloes to nine wins for just the third time at the time in CU's history, as well as just the school's fourth bowl appearance. He also a first-team All-Big Eight performer that season, which followed him being a second-team pick his junior year and an honorable mention selection as a sophomore.
Tracy was the third Buff in history to be selected as an Academic All-American, also in 1967. He became the second CU player, along with Joe Romig, to earn All-American and Academic All-American honors in the same season, which has since been accomplished just 12 times overall.
He played a significant role in turning the fortunes around for the CU football program. After three straight 2-8 seasons, in his sophomore year under third-year coach Eddie Crowder, the Buffaloes went 6-2-2. Overall in his three years as a player (freshman weren't permitted to play in his day), Colorado was 22-7-2, with a 14-6-1 record in Big Eight play with two second place and a third place finish.
Bruce Heath, who was the starting center on CU's 1967 Bluebonnet Bowl champion team that finished 9-2 overall (5-2 in the Big Eight), called him a trailblazer when it came to conditioning and taking care of his body.
"One of the things that differentiated him as a player was that he was way ahead of his time in weightlifting," Heath said. "To the point where his nickname was 'Bluto' (from the Popeye cartoons). The guy was so different physically, it was like night and day from the rest of us.
"The workouts for most of us in the summer would have been a pick and shovel job, but not for him," he continued. "He worked construction in the summer, and then after every day's work, he had a disciplined weight program he would follow.
"Dick Anderson saw him, he told young brother Bobby and he started on Kirk's program. There weren't strength coaches in those days, and nobody really lifted weights much, if at all. Other people were influenced by him—he was the 'Avant Garde' of that era."
"He was the first in introducing his approach to the team," Heath added. "He was considered a big guy for his height in that era and it worked out for him. Just solid muscle, not like most of today's linemen." Tracy was listed at 5-11, 225 as a senior; Heath measured in at 6-2, 215.
Heath joined Tracy on the Big Eight's All-Academic team that season as the two became life-long friends.
Bobby Anderson, who was a sophomore quarterback fondly remembered Tracy and what he meant to the team.
"Kirk was smart, savvy and the strongest man on the team with huge 18-inch biceps," Anderson said. "He was a powerful offensive guard who dominated every man across from him and we won every game he played in that year. Kirk was always respectful and polite and made sure people were properly introduced when they entered a room and might not know one another."
His younger brother Steve was a junior safety on that team.
"We were always really close, though we were only 11 months apart, I looked up to him," Steve said. "He was a real tiger, a real good guy. Brothers fight all the time, but when he started lifting weights and got so big, those came to an end."
Anderson fondly remembered how special the '67 season was.
"Kirk was a great leader and captain with Ron Scott and John Farler," he recalled. "In the second game of the season, we beat Oregon in the first game ever played in Autzen Stadium in Eugene, and we felt it could be a special season. After beating Nebraska in Lincoln, we were 5-0 and ranked third in the nation – but Kirk and several other offensive starters were injured and we dropped the next two games to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. But Kirk came back and we won the next four games, the final victory over Miami in the Bluebonnet Bowl.
"Getting ready to go to Houston for the bowl game we were the, 'Bluebonnet Bowl Bound Buffs,'" Anderson said. "But Kirk enhanced that every day to add to the alliteration and by the time we departed, we were the 'Big, Bad, Bold, Beautiful, Brawny, Bodacious, Bouncy, Better, Bluebonnet Bowl Bound Buffs.' Kirk should and will be celebrated, remembered and loved as most definitely one of a kind."
"We were all very proud of that win at Nebraska in '67," Heath echoed. "Who knew at the time it would be 19 years until we beat them again. We were ready to crack open the champagne every time we came close."
A graduate of Lakewood (Colo.) High School, he was the first player to receive the Joe Romig Scholarship, awarded to a high school graduate with a combination of academic and athletic achievement that emulated Romig's CU career. At LHS, he played for legendary coach (and former Buff) Tom Hancock, and it was the first high school team in Colorado to add weight training as a regular part of its regimen. Hancock followed LSU's famed Alvin Roy's weight training routines that are now commonplace but were little practiced then. It's where Tracy embraced the process.
In his obituary in the Boulder Camera, it mentioned that after Tracy graduated from CU in 1968 that he "had a curious and adventurous spirit, traveling the world and trekking through Afghanistan, Nepal, Greece, India, South America and beyond after school. It was during his travels when he met his wife, Sandie, in Hawaii."
It also noted, "His passion for CU football lasted until the end, and he both cursed and cheered his way through every game over the years."
Tracy and his wife relocated to Glenwood Springs, where Kirk owned and operated Mountain Microfilm and Imaging for 40 years before retiring.
Born April 16, 1946 in Norfolk, Va. (where his father was stationed after World War II), his family soon moved to Colorado and relocated in Denver before settling in Lakewood. Kirk is survived by his wife Sandie, his daughters Teghan and Tessie, and two grandsons, Oliver and Koa. The oldest of five siblings, he is also survived his brothers Steve, Mike and Terry, and a sister, Sue. A small family service will be held in Hawai'i in November, where Sandie is from and where they spent a lot of time. He will be cremated with his ashes to be spread in the Pacific Ocean, per Hawaiian tradition.
In lieu of flowers, those who wish are asked to send donations to The Buff Club, 369 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, in memory of Kirk Tracy.
Tracy was a three-year starter at offensive guard, earning second-team All-American honors as a senior in 1967, when he helped lead the Buffaloes to nine wins for just the third time at the time in CU's history, as well as just the school's fourth bowl appearance. He also a first-team All-Big Eight performer that season, which followed him being a second-team pick his junior year and an honorable mention selection as a sophomore.
Tracy was the third Buff in history to be selected as an Academic All-American, also in 1967. He became the second CU player, along with Joe Romig, to earn All-American and Academic All-American honors in the same season, which has since been accomplished just 12 times overall.
He played a significant role in turning the fortunes around for the CU football program. After three straight 2-8 seasons, in his sophomore year under third-year coach Eddie Crowder, the Buffaloes went 6-2-2. Overall in his three years as a player (freshman weren't permitted to play in his day), Colorado was 22-7-2, with a 14-6-1 record in Big Eight play with two second place and a third place finish.
Bruce Heath, who was the starting center on CU's 1967 Bluebonnet Bowl champion team that finished 9-2 overall (5-2 in the Big Eight), called him a trailblazer when it came to conditioning and taking care of his body.
"One of the things that differentiated him as a player was that he was way ahead of his time in weightlifting," Heath said. "To the point where his nickname was 'Bluto' (from the Popeye cartoons). The guy was so different physically, it was like night and day from the rest of us.
"The workouts for most of us in the summer would have been a pick and shovel job, but not for him," he continued. "He worked construction in the summer, and then after every day's work, he had a disciplined weight program he would follow.
"Dick Anderson saw him, he told young brother Bobby and he started on Kirk's program. There weren't strength coaches in those days, and nobody really lifted weights much, if at all. Other people were influenced by him—he was the 'Avant Garde' of that era."
"He was the first in introducing his approach to the team," Heath added. "He was considered a big guy for his height in that era and it worked out for him. Just solid muscle, not like most of today's linemen." Tracy was listed at 5-11, 225 as a senior; Heath measured in at 6-2, 215.
Heath joined Tracy on the Big Eight's All-Academic team that season as the two became life-long friends.
Bobby Anderson, who was a sophomore quarterback fondly remembered Tracy and what he meant to the team.
"Kirk was smart, savvy and the strongest man on the team with huge 18-inch biceps," Anderson said. "He was a powerful offensive guard who dominated every man across from him and we won every game he played in that year. Kirk was always respectful and polite and made sure people were properly introduced when they entered a room and might not know one another."
His younger brother Steve was a junior safety on that team.
"We were always really close, though we were only 11 months apart, I looked up to him," Steve said. "He was a real tiger, a real good guy. Brothers fight all the time, but when he started lifting weights and got so big, those came to an end."
Anderson fondly remembered how special the '67 season was.
"Kirk was a great leader and captain with Ron Scott and John Farler," he recalled. "In the second game of the season, we beat Oregon in the first game ever played in Autzen Stadium in Eugene, and we felt it could be a special season. After beating Nebraska in Lincoln, we were 5-0 and ranked third in the nation – but Kirk and several other offensive starters were injured and we dropped the next two games to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. But Kirk came back and we won the next four games, the final victory over Miami in the Bluebonnet Bowl.
"Getting ready to go to Houston for the bowl game we were the, 'Bluebonnet Bowl Bound Buffs,'" Anderson said. "But Kirk enhanced that every day to add to the alliteration and by the time we departed, we were the 'Big, Bad, Bold, Beautiful, Brawny, Bodacious, Bouncy, Better, Bluebonnet Bowl Bound Buffs.' Kirk should and will be celebrated, remembered and loved as most definitely one of a kind."
"We were all very proud of that win at Nebraska in '67," Heath echoed. "Who knew at the time it would be 19 years until we beat them again. We were ready to crack open the champagne every time we came close."
A graduate of Lakewood (Colo.) High School, he was the first player to receive the Joe Romig Scholarship, awarded to a high school graduate with a combination of academic and athletic achievement that emulated Romig's CU career. At LHS, he played for legendary coach (and former Buff) Tom Hancock, and it was the first high school team in Colorado to add weight training as a regular part of its regimen. Hancock followed LSU's famed Alvin Roy's weight training routines that are now commonplace but were little practiced then. It's where Tracy embraced the process.
In his obituary in the Boulder Camera, it mentioned that after Tracy graduated from CU in 1968 that he "had a curious and adventurous spirit, traveling the world and trekking through Afghanistan, Nepal, Greece, India, South America and beyond after school. It was during his travels when he met his wife, Sandie, in Hawaii."
It also noted, "His passion for CU football lasted until the end, and he both cursed and cheered his way through every game over the years."
Tracy and his wife relocated to Glenwood Springs, where Kirk owned and operated Mountain Microfilm and Imaging for 40 years before retiring.
Born April 16, 1946 in Norfolk, Va. (where his father was stationed after World War II), his family soon moved to Colorado and relocated in Denver before settling in Lakewood. Kirk is survived by his wife Sandie, his daughters Teghan and Tessie, and two grandsons, Oliver and Koa. The oldest of five siblings, he is also survived his brothers Steve, Mike and Terry, and a sister, Sue. A small family service will be held in Hawai'i in November, where Sandie is from and where they spent a lot of time. He will be cremated with his ashes to be spread in the Pacific Ocean, per Hawaiian tradition.
In lieu of flowers, those who wish are asked to send donations to The Buff Club, 369 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, in memory of Kirk Tracy.
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