Karen Koch

This is Karen Koch posing with her goalie gear. (http://www.marquetteironrangers.com/kar.htm)

My hero is Karen Koch, an ice hockey goalie in the Marquette Iron Rangers during the 1969-70 season. She was the first professional female hockey player in North America, but according to her coach, she's the first in the world. Karen Koch was born on October 3, 1951 and lived in Gibraltar, Michigan.

This is the logo of the Marquette Iron Rangers (azhockey.com)

I chose Karen Koch because I have learned something from her. That is to keep going to accomplish your goals or dreams no matter what's in your way. I learned that from her when she tried out for the Marquette Iron Rangers. Karen Koch was the only female trying out, but since she was trying out for goalie and wore so much equipment, nobody could tell, until the team captain went up to the coach and said, "Coach, did you know that little squirt of a goalie is a girl?" The coach then said, "What! How do you know?" "One of the kids from Northern Michigan University told me," he said. The coach decided to talk to Karen, who didn't look at him the whole time. The coach found out that she did that because she was expecting him to kick her off the ice because she was a female. Karen enrolled in Northern Michigan University to try out for the team. She had been playing hockey and lacrosse with boys in Gibraltar for a long time. Karen also said that none of the senior teams in Detroit would give her a tryout probably because she was a female, so Karen didn't want to get cut without a fair tryout. The coach did give her a fair tryout and saw that Karen was pretty good, so she was on the team! I also chose Karen Koch because of our similarity of being the only girl in a group. Karen Koch was the only girl in the Marquette Iron Rangers. Some of her teammates weren't exactly thrilled about that because there was only one changing room and other reasons. Last year, I was in an advanced math group during math time, and I was also the only girl in the group. I felt a little strange during math time because when the boys were done with math, they'd talk to each other, usually excluding me because girls "couldn't hear boy stuff." I sometimes felt like the odd one out and I'm guessing Karen Koch might have felt that too.

This is Karen Koch skating around the goal. (http://www.marquetteironrangers.com/kar.htm)

Karen Koch is my hero because she was the first professional female ice hockey player in the world but kept going on to reach her dreams no matter what was in her way (which was the fact that she was the only female). I also chose her because of our similarity.