Staples Soccer Mourns Victor King ’73
Victor King — a defender on Staples’ 1972 state and FCIAC champion team, a nationally known bridge player, and son of longtime Staples science teacher and department chair Dick King — was murdered on Sunday in his Hartford home.
Suspect Jerry David Thompson — now in custody — wielded a Samurai sword. He had recently moved into a vacant room in King’s Asylum Avenue house.
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The day before, King had called police after being threatened with the sword by Thompson over a rent dispute. The next day, when friends could not contact King, they called police.
Thompson — who has previous convictions for assault and robbery — has refused to talk to his public defender. He claims he is a “sovereign citizen,” not subject to law.
King was remembered by former teammates. Peter Dickstein called him “soft-spoken, highly intelligent, always ready to laugh, and tenacious.” George Barrett said he was “a terrific teammate … not one to claim the limelight, but gritty and indispensable to our team.” Mark Goldrosen added, “Victor was a very talented, yet humble and unassuming, teammate, and a very formidable participant in our weekend poker games. Victor always had a sparkle in his eye and a smile on his face.”
King worked at Travelers Insurance for more than 20 years. He retired from his IT job in 2018. He was a Grant Life Master bridge player, and won a national championship in 2016.
His cousin, Jim Banks, told the Hartford Courant: “He was one of the good guys. One that would never hurt a soul. One that would always reach out and help others. He was pleasant as can be. Always seemed to be happy. He was just a joy to be around.”
King is the 4th loss for the ’72 team. Paul Herrault died at a young age from cancer; Dennis Murphy succumbed to esophogeal cancer 4 years ago, while Jeff Williamson died after a long illness earlier this year.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with the family’s expenses.
Victor King (Photo courtesy of Hartford Courant, from Jim Banks)
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