Del City honors Bob Kalsu, late Vietnam War hero & OU football star, with statue unveiling
DEL CITY — The Del City High School football team will start a new tradition next season. Before every home game, the Eagles will gather around a statue in front of their stadium. A statue, which was unveiled Friday, of Del City alum Bob Kalsu.
Coach Robert Jones said he wants his team to embody the characteristics of Kalsu.
“The commitment, the discipline, the effort and the pride,” Jones said. “The toughness that he showed as a man.”
Bob Kalsu, like the statue depicting him, was larger than life. To his family and friends, his coaches and teammates and the Army brothers he fought alongside in Vietnam, where Kalsu was killed in action. Kalsu, a former Sooner offensive lineman who starred as a rookie for the Buffalo Bills, was the only active NFL player to die in the Vietnam War.
Hundreds who knew Kalsu, knew someone close to him or simply knew of his courage packed a plaza Friday in front of the Del City High School football stadium that bears Kalsu’s name. They gathered for the unveiling of a statue — of a grinning Kalsu in his No. 77 jersey — but more so, to share stories. To laugh and to cry.
Bob Kalsu’s widow, Jan, spoke last. She was accompanied by her and Bob’s son, Bob Jr., and their daughter, Jill — neither of whom were old enough to remember their father, gone at the age of 25. More than 60 Kalsu family members were in attendance.
Retired Navy captain John Keilty, who leads Del City's Jr. Naval ROTC, emceed and helped organize the event. Steve Coleman, a former Del City teammate of Kalsu’s, was among the speakers. As was Barry Switzer, Kalsu’s offensive line coach at OU before Switzer became head coach.
“Bob Kalsu was the best player we had,” Switzer said.
Kalsu was a football star who could’ve gotten a deferment from fighting in Vietnam had he sought one.
“He didn’t have to go,” Switzer said, “but he did.”
Coleman and Switzer knew Kalsu as a teammate and player, a friend on the football field. Mike Renner knew Kalsu as his buddy in battle.
Renner, who traveled to the ceremony from his home in Iowa, left the crowd with nary a dry eye as he told of the Bob Kalsu he knew.
“I’ve never seen an officer so caring about his men and so unselfish as he was,” Renner said of Lt. Kalsu.
Renner remembers having to carry rounds of ammo up a hill. Each round was 97 pounds, and Kalsu could carry three at a time.
“I appreciate why the Buffalo Bills drafted him,” Renner said, drawing laughs.
On July 1, 1970, Kalsu and Co. endured heavy enemy artillery fire at Firebase Ripcord in the A Shau Valley.
“He continued to lead his team,” Renner said.
Kalsu always led his team.
When Kalsu was killed, Renner asked his sergeant first class what they were going to do with Kalsu gone.
“I just don’t know, Renner,” he was told. “I just don’t know.”
More than 50 years after Kalsu’s death, Renner has never forgotten the impression Kalsu left on him and so many others.
Renner closed his remarks by addressing Kalsu’s children, Jill and Bob Jr., who have children of their own now.
“Jill and Bobby,” Renner said. “You have your dad’s smile. Don’t ever lose it.”
The same smile emblazoned on the statue, never to be forgotten.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
The Kalsu file
Born: April 13, 1945
Died: July 21, 1970
High school: Del City
College: Oklahoma
Wife: Jan Kalsu
Children: Daughter, Jill Kalsu; son, James Robert Kalsu Jr.
Notable: Awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his Army service during the Vietnam War. ... Earned first-team All-American honors as an offensive lineman with the Sooners in 1967. ... Selected by the Buffalo Bills in the eighth round of the 1968 NFL Draft.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Del City honors Bob Kalsu, war hero and OU star, with statue unveiling
