Valley News – Dartmouth’s Spörk proving fluent in American football

HANOVER — All it took was one game for Konstantin Spörk to be hooked on a different kind of football.

A native of Pulheim, Germany — just outside of Cologne — Spörk grew up playing the more popular version of football in his home country as a goalkeeper. But after watching Super Bowl 50 with his father in 2016 between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, he became fascinated with American football and looked for opportunities to play.

Six years later, Spörk is pushing back opposing edge rushers and opening holes for his ball carriers as Dartmouth College’s sophomore starting left tackle.

“He’s been a wonderful addition,” Big Green coach Buddy Teevens said. “(He was) kind of raw, because the level of football that he did play was not real high. Picking up the skill set as quickly as he has is very impressive.

“I call him ‘the Terminator’ after Arnold Schwarzenegger. He doesn’t say much, but he takes care of his business on the field, and he’s learning some of the nuances. Every practice day and every game, we see an improvement.”

Spörk joined the Cologne Crocodiles, a club team near his hometown, and played with them for four years while in high school, helping their U19 team to an undefeated season and a national championship in 2019. But in order to play football at the level he wanted, Spörk knew he would have to come stateside, and he found an opportunity to play a postgraduate season at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia for the fall of 2020.

Originally a wide receiver, Spörk kept gaining weight and transitioned to tight end before becoming a two-way lineman. At Fork Union, Spörk and his teammates had to give up their cell phones — a tall ask for an international student in the middle of a pandemic. But his team finished 5-1 in the COVID-shortened season, and that November, Spörk received his first and only Division I offer from Dartmouth. New Mexico Military Institute, a two-year junior college, was the only other school to offer him an opportunity.

The Big Green learned about Spörk via Chris Adamson, a former Dartmouth offensive lineman (class of 1997) who co-founded Gridiron Imports, a nonprofit organization that helps football players from around the world find opportunities to play at high schools and colleges in the U.S.

“(Adamson) is kind of a conduit for us for approaching and evaluating kids overseas,” said Dartmouth offensive line coach Keith Clark, who coached for two years in Italy. “He let us know about this kid playing down at Fork Union, and we knew he wasn’t a refined football player, but what we were looking for was the raw tools that we can help develop. We recruited him a lot by Zoom overseas. He’s still raw at times, but his work ethic is remarkable.”

After three months at Fork Union, Spörk returned to Germany and committed to Dartmouth in December. The Big Green were coming off an Ivy League championship in 2019, and Spörk was attracted by the winning…