Ken Kunken’s First Year Back by Roger Archibald
Cornell Alumni Magazine, 07/1972

When Ken Kunken ’72 returned to Cornell last September to register, many people were surprised to see him. Exactly ten months earlier, Ken had been totally paralyzed in a football accident, making him the first athlete in university history to be permanently disabled while wearing a Cornell uniform.
On the last day of October 1970, while the university was adjourned for citizenship recess, Ken Kunken ’72 got his first chance to play in a 150-pound football game. He wasn’t a starter, but was on the special kick-off and punting team known in football as the “suicide squad” because of the greater risk of injury such open-field play involves.
Under a steady drizzle in the second quarter, Kenny went back onto Lower Alumni Field for the kick-off after Cornell had scored its second touchdown against Columbia. Streaking downfield, he tackled the receiver perfectly, making the first contact with his helmet, toppling the runner backwards. /full article/