Hall of Fame
Robert Conner Chapoose is a man of many “firsts”. He was the first member of his Ute Indian Tribe to be named U.S. military advisors sent to Vietnam in the mid-1950’s. He was the first All-American in Dixie College history and the first Dixie athlete to play both professional baseball and football. Chapoose also enjoyed pro careers as a boxer and rodeo rider. He has even garnered fame as a nationally-known senior bowler.
Bob graduated from Union High School in 1953 and spent three years in the Army, serving in Korea and Vietnam. He played football for the 8th Army Team at Fort Ord.
He joined Coach Sarkis Arslanian’s first Dixie College football team in 1956 as a 6’4”, 250 lb man among boys. He was named to the Jr. College All-American team in 1957 and played with the distinction in the East-West Jr. College All-Star game held in Jacksonville, Mississippi, where his coach was NFL Hall of Famer “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh. While at Dixie in 1956, Bob married a local girl, Connie Jensen, the daughter of Charles and Kathleen Jensen. For the next 45 years, Bob and Connie were inseparable team in Fort Duchesne, Utah. They raised four children and 15 grandchildren while Bob rode bulls and team-roped with his dad, played baseball for the AAA Albuquerque Dukes, went to summer camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and boxed professionally, including an exhibition match against former Heavy-Weight Champion, Archie Moore.
Bob would like to dedicate his latest “first” to Connie’s memory. Robert Conner Chapoose is the first Native American inductee into the Dixie State College Athletics Hall of Fame.
