Carl "Duke" Iverson

Monmouth – June 18, 1940 – February 11, 2021. Duke was born in Seattle, Washington to Wendell and Anne Iverson. He graduated from Pe Ell High School in 1958. Following high school, Duke earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Whitman College (1962) and his Ph.D. in Biological Science from the University of Wisconsin (1967).
In the fall of 1967, Duke began his highly successful coaching career at Western State College of Colorado. Over the next 50 years his impact as a coach stretched from Colorado, where he coached the Western Colorado Mountaineers for 12 seasons (1988-95 and 1997-2000), all the way to Oregon, coaching the Western Oregon Wolves (1985-87 and 2001-04). He also spent time coaching in South Dakota (Black Hills State University), Austria, Finland, Australia, and Sweden.
Duke amassed a record of 126-84-3 as a college head coach. He collected eight conference championships and was named the NAIA Division I Coach of the Year in 1991. He was named RMAC Coach of the Year six times. Duke was enshrined into the Black Hills State College Hall of Fame, the Western State University Hall of Fame, and was a lifetime member of the American Football Coaches Association.
From 2008 to 2016 Duke was the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for Central High School in Oregon. He helped the Panthers win five conference championships, three of which led to semi-final appearances.
Duke had cherished relationships with everyone that crossed his path, and many will say he was the most intelligent person they ever met. He is credited with writing his doctoral thesis on tree fungus and was a contributing author to Snow Lovers Guide to Winter Sports (Prentice-Hall, 1979).
Duke and his wife, Rita, loved to travel. They spent the past 12 years exploring the United States, coaching football in several countries throughout Europe, and traveling to Australia multiple times to visit his daughters and their families. Duke also enjoyed visiting with and attending his grandkids events including sports games, track meets, concerts, plays, recitals, and graduations.
Another great passion of Duke’s was to keep up on all levels of football. He would spend parts of each day reading and researching the latest developments on and off the field. The greatest part of his day would be talking to a former player or coach. His first question would always be about their family.
Duke was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his sister Carol Strommer, Enumclaw, WA; wife Rita Iverson, Monmouth, OR; mother of his three daughters Kathy Ferriss, Arizona; daughters Christine Iverson (Michael); Manly, Australia; Karen Menzies (Dave) Narrabeen, Australia; Carla Moha (Mike) Warrenton, OR; stepson Alex Armijo (Melissa) Castle Rock, CO; 10 grandchildren (Serena, Zander, Connor, Jasmine, Rebecca, Samantha, Alexander, Autumn, Dominic, Elizabeth); niece (Sina) and nephew (Scott).
Assisting the family is Farnstrom Mortuary. A family-only service was held on Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 11:00am. A future celebration of life will be held at both Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon and Western State University in Gunnison, Colorado. Each of these universities plan to establish a Duke Iverson Scholarship Fund, more information will be available on their websites in the near future.
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