Former QB Koos propels Central’s Forever Dutch® project

PELLA—His future as a corporate CEO lay far beyond the hazy late-summer horizon. His eventual role as a Central College trustee and one of the school’s most generous and vocal advocates for the Forever Dutch® initiative to renovate and expand P.H. Kuyper Gym seemed as much a fantasy as that summer’s Hollywood blockbuster, “E.T.” Something more pressing was weighing on his mind.

It was August, 1982 and Tom Koos suddenly began to wonder if he’d made a bad decision.

At a slender 5-foot-10, it’s not that Koos expected to attain immediate Big-Man-At-Central College status when he arrived on campus early for preseason football practice. Yet along with his t-shirts and dorm room stereo, he brought a suitcase to Pella brimming with the self-confidence that comes with playing quarterback for perennial juggernaut Harlan High School, where he starred in four sports. The Omaha World-Herald dubbed him the Western Iowa Male Athlete of the Year.

And while NCAA Division I coaches thought he lacked the size they were looking for, as Koos first tugged on the nylon-mesh blue jersey Central’s quarterbacks wore during practice to signal their preciousness to overzealous pass rushers, he was anticipating a quick transition to at least a prominent spot on the Division III Dutch depth chart. However, what he saw when he emerged from the locker room and sunk his cleats into the gravel outside the door, as he toward the thinning, sun-baked turf, stifled his breath even more than the oppressive Iowa humidity.

“I walked on the practice field and there are 10 blue jerseys,” Koos said. “And I was the smallest guy of the bunch, by 20 pounds. I went through shock.”

He got another bracing jolt to his self-confidence beyond the Central playing field as well.

“That kind of happened to me in the classroom, too, with the physics classes I was taking,” he said. “I thought, man, this may be a small college but this place is big time. And so I just fought my way through it.”

Doing so launched Koos not only to a memorable Central athletics career, but down a path as a prominent corporate CEO, including his current gig in Irving, Texas as president and chief executive officer for PrimeSource Building Products, Inc., international distributor of building products for residential, commercial and industrial applications. He previously served as president and CEO of Weber Products, manufacturer of Weber grills, after earlier leading Jacuzzi® Brands Corporation as CEO and serving as group president at the Black & Decker Corporation among other positions.

His passion for Central, meanwhile, continues to grow, prompting one decision that he won’t ever question, in supporting the $18-million Forever Dutch® initiative. Koos and his wife, Debbie, have given more than $250,000 to the project, which launched with a $12-million building expansion in 2017. The second $3-million phase to the lower level, which includes a new women’s varsity locker room and a transformed athletic training room, is nearing completion and the college hopes to quickly transition to a $3-million third phase of the building’s upper level. It will feature team meeting space, a new welcome center, recruitment space, offices and an updated visitor’s locker room.

“Tom understands what it means to lead,” Central president Mark Putnam said. “As a quarterback, as a company president and as a Central trustee, Tom knows not only how to set lofty goals and boldly step forward to attain them, but how to inspire and motivate others to join him in that quest. I know that Tom believes passionately in the importance of the Forever Dutch® project and the opportunities it can help provide future Central students. We are deeply grateful for the support he and Debbie provide as we near our goal.”

Koos didn’t feel like a leader initially at Central. He had to overcome the fears he felt that first day on the football practice field.

“I was scared to death,” he said, recalling the competition he saw at quarterback. “There’s a guy who’s 6-2, 220 who can throw the ball through a carwash without getting the laces wet. He’s a year older than me and I’m like, I’m never going to play. There’s no way I’ll beat this guy out.

“I called my dad that night and I’m thinking, ‘I made a mistake here Dad, I might have to just focus on baseball.’

“I’m glad I didn’t.”

Koos ultimately developed into a standout quarterback in one of the storied program’s most dominant eras while also securing first-team all-conference honors as a baseball outfielder. He began to see action on the football field in 1983 when a young Central squad rose from a 1-2 start to stun defending champion Wartburg College 21-7 in a soggy homecoming upset and ultimately rally for a surprising conference title tie. That kicked off a string of five consecutive league crowns for the Dutch and a record 36-game regular-season win streak. Koos helped fuel a magical 1984 season that ended with a loss in the NCAA Division III title game at the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in the mud and snow of King’s Island, Ohio before reaching the national semifinal game in 1985 in even more treacherous conditions, which handcuffed the undersized Dutch, who relied on speed. But Central was 11-1 both years with undefeated regular seasons. A dual- threat quarterback, Koos passed for 1,720 career yards and rushed for 646.

As an outfielder, Koos helped the Dutch baseball squad rise from the depths, having endured an 11-22 1982 season. Central posted a 25-11 mark in 1985 with a best-ever 20-4 conference record and played for a shot at the title on the season’s final day before settling for second place. The Dutch were second in 1986 as well as Koos hit .343 with 40 runs scored and 23 stolen bases. He still ranks third in career stolen bases at Central with 42.

But his star shined just as brightly in the classroom and as he looks back, that’s an aspect of his Central experience he treasures.

“For years I’ve told people I went to Central for the wrong reason and got lucky,” Koos said. “I came to play ball and ended up gaining a lot more.”

Koos was grateful that Central allowed him to compete in more than one sport but also liked the flexibility the liberal arts curriculum offered in exploring his classroom options. He arrived intending to major in physics before eventually finding his way as a double major in business management and systems management.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do,” he said. “I mean, law school was even on my radar for a long time. So Central was perfect. I was allowed to wander around and find what I loved and maybe what I was good at. And you kind of hope those are one and the same. I got lucky.”

Growing even more special to Koos than the classes were those who taught them, and he puts Central’s college football hall of fame coach, the late Ron Schipper, at the top of the list.

“I also was fortunate to learn under people like (chemistry professor) Art Bosch all the way to (economics professors) Rich Glendening and Don Butler and (communications associate professor) Bette Brunsting,” Koos said. “I mean, you go down the list of people that we had the opportunity to study under and it was crazy.”

They provided training Koos draws on as a business leader.

“Don Butler pops into my brain every now and then when I’m looking at an analysis,” he said. “You know, Skip (Schipper) still pops into my brain thinking about the preparation that you have to have to be ready for Saturday. You learned that good teammates are a lot more important than how good you are. I still laugh, I never lost a (regular-season) game my junior and senior year and I was a very average quarterback. I’d be the first person to tell you that. But hiring well is the same thing as having good teammates around. Knowing what they do well. Just like when you worked in classrooms where you have these projects and you pick people to work with. Every day, something I was exposed to at Central typically pops up.”

For Koos, the lessons were mastered at Central in equal measure whether he was staring across a defensive line or at an economics textbook. That’s why Forever Dutch® is such a priority for him.

“I learned a lot of things academically but my father taught me when I was very young, the best classroom you will ever experience is 100 yards long and 53 yards wide,” he said. “I believe that, for me, being a truly well-rounded person includes the athletics experience, the teamwork, the wins and the losses. And I think you actually learn more from the losses–all I know is I hated them. But I believe that Forever Dutch® will provide a continuation of the classroom that exists down at the Kuyper Athletics Complex.”

But the first step in providing students that opportunity is drawing them to Central. Koos calls athletics facilities the college’s front door.

“It matters,” he said. “And when your facilities are excellent, you can recruit kids and then they get exposed to whoever on campus is now Rich Glendening or (mathematics professor) Tom Iverson or Art Bosch.”

Koos and his wife, Debbie, raised a daughter, Ashley, and sons Kyle and Trevor. Koos is the only one in the bunch who attended Central but he said his entire family has been blessed by what the school provided. He urged his former teammates and fellow grads to show their appreciation as well by propelling the Forever Dutch® initiative past the finish line on the next $3-million phase.

“Remember what you gained from your four years here on campus and how big a part of that your intercollegiate athletics experience was,” he said. “Yeah, your education cost you money, but be thankful. Look back, be grateful and share. Only you can decide how much that is but to not be thankful, you’re missing the boat.”