Former Big Blue athlete, teacher, coach, administrator ‘loved his family’

Couch, a standout athlete at Hamilton High School and University of Cincinnati, died Feb. 12 in his Hamilton home. He was 85.

Couch’s father, Elmer, died when he was 10 and he and his brother were raised on Second Street by their mother, Gladys.

He graduated from Hamilton High School in 1954 where he was an All-Ohio football player and was elected captain of the North South All-Star game. He wanted to play football at the University of Florida and he was recruited by Bear Bryant, then coach at the University of Kentucky.

But he accepted a football scholarship to play at the University of Cincinnati. He was co-captain and named to the all-Missouri Valley Conference as an offensive lineman.

Couch received his undergraduate degree from UC and his master’s degree from Xavier University.

He was inducted into the Hamilton City Schools and the Butler County Athletic Halls of Fame.

Couch served as a Hamilton police officer before transitioning careers to an educator, coach, counselor, and administrator for Middletown and Hamilton city schools districts, his son said. He retired in 1990, then provided transportation for an assisted living center until he was 82.

“He was taking people much younger than him to their doctor appointments,” his son said.

Couch is survived by his wife of 63 years, Carol, whom he married on Jan. 24, 1959; three sons, Curtis, 62, of Bay Village, Ohio, Brett, 59, of Hamilton, and Scott, 55, of Hamilton; and three grandchildren, Kristen Couch, Lauren Kugel, and Bryce Couch.

“He loved Hamilton,” his son said. “He loved the Big Blue.”

When his father served as assistant principal at Garfield, he once gave Brett detention.

“Did I deserve it?” he asked. “That’s debatable. But he was always fair.”

Brett called his father “a tough son of a gun” who taught him the importance of being true to yourself.

“Be humble or you will be humbled” was one lesson Brett learned from his father.

Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 2 at Brown Dawson Flick Funeral Home followed by the funeral service. Burial will follow at Greenwood Cemetery.