Man of charm played for Kamehameha, USC, Redskins

At 6 feet, 4 inches and 260 pounds, Karl P. Lorch Jr. was an imposing defensive end who ran back interceptions for touchdowns in three professional football leagues.

But the people who played with and against Lorch remember him as much for his disarming charm and sharp wit as for his Monday Night Football exploits.

“He was somebody you met once in a lifetime, if you were lucky,” said Junior Ah You, who played with him on the Chicago Blitz of the USFL. “Everybody who met him wanted to be his friend.”

Lorch, a 1968 Kamehameha Schools graduate from Nanakuli who helped USC to the 1972 national championship and spent 12 years in pro football, including six with the Washington Redskins, died Monday at age 63 after a bout with cancer, friends and family said.

“He was an incredibly gifted athlete and an even more incredible person,” said Doss Tannehill, who has known Lorch since their seventh-grade year at Kamehameha. “He had a great sense of humor that you just had to love. He was a gifted singer, a karaoke master.”

Legend had it that while with the Arizona Wranglers of the USFL, Lorch was fined by coach Frank Kush, an in-your-face disciplinarian, for smoking a cigar in the locker room.

The next day when Kush walked in, he was greeted by Lorch waving a white flag on the end of a broomstick.

He got to keep his cigars, according to the book “Trojans 1972: An Immortal Team of Mortal Men.”

In another instance, the struggling USFL decided to merge its Oklahoma and Arizona franchises and there was considerable tension between the two groups of players. Lorch, representing the Arizona players, agreed to meet with quarterback Doug Williams of the Oklahoma group. Lorch, it was reported, brought the beer and Williams the pupus.

In a short time, the differences were worked out.

“I never saw him fight with anybody, never saw him lose his temper,” Tannehill said. “Guys would see him as this big guy sitting there drinking his beer and want to test him or fight him. But within 10 minutes, they would be hugging each other like old buddies. That’s just the kind of guy he was.”

After Kamehameha, where he excelled in football, basketball and track, Lorch attended Arizona Western College for two years before being recruited to USC. It was the days before scholarship limits and Lorch was a backup on the 12-0 1972 Trojans team that produced five All-Americans.

But a Miami scout prevailed upon the Dolphins to draft him in 1973 strictly off a practice performance.

Lorch was cut by the Dolphins, but made a name for himself with The Hawaiians of the World Football League (1974-75), where he starred on the defensive line with Levi Stanley and Lem Burnham. His play earned a call from Washington Redskins coach George Allen and resulted in a life-long friendship with the Allen family.

Lorch played 90 games, including 52 starts, with the Redskins, the most memorable play a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football in 1979.

In 1983, Allen brought Lorch to the Chicago Blitz of the USFL, where he became an all-league selection.

“He (Lorch) had been out of practice for two weeks with a back injury and the day he got back was the day Coach Allen had us run 40-yard sprints against each other,” Ah You said. “We were in great shape, but KP beat all of us.”

Lorch worked for Don Ho at the Polynesian Palace, and was an investigator and stevedore.

He is survived by sisters Yvonne Webber and Pleiades Sousa, daughters Kerri Lorch and Tracy Lorch and six grandchildren.

Services are pending.