The Nicholls Worth

Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Kirk Sides Hilton Koch, owner of the Houston-based Hilton Furniture chain, receives a Houston Comets jersey bearing his name from WNBA president Donna Orender, marking Koch's purchase of the women's basketball team Jan. 31 in Houston.

To the citizens of Houston, Texas, Hilton Koch is the chainsaw-wielding, price-slashing furniture store owner. But to Nicholls State, he is known as the fiery, over-achieving, do-it-all that earned his way onto the Colonel football team.

Now, more than ten years after he left the small roads of Thibodaux for the four lane highways of Texas, Koch is the owner of Hilton Furniture and Mattress store, and recently, a WNBA franchise.

Three weeks ago, Koch bought the Houston Comets, the sister team of the NBA's Houston Rockets for $10 million making him the owner and president of the organization and only the fifth independent owner in the entire league.

But before the bright lights of the Toyota Center and the television commercials where he can be seen using a chain saw to literally cut into prices, the New Orleans native was a student who loved sports.

"Just being a part of the Nicholls family, instilled in me how important a community plays in the formation of a person's character," Koch said. "From the first day I stepped foot on campus in 1987, I immediately felt accepted from Nicholls and the city of Thibodaux."

Koch's place on the Colonels football team actually came about because of a bet that he made with offensive lineman and friend Greg "Bull" Johnson.

"I was in Tau Kappa Epsilon and I wanted Greg to rush, so I told him that if he went through rush week, I would walk on to the football team," he said.

Johnson, although hesitant at first, went through rush week and Koch made good on his promise to walk on the team, and said he had every intention of securing a spot on the Colonels squad and one day being a starter.

Koch made the team as a scout team player his first year, but going into his second year, became a starter and was given a full scholarship.

"It was wonderful just playing football and being involved with the team," Koch said. "That time will always hold a special place in my heart."

Continued...

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