He played football at California High School in Whittier, California where he was smaller in stature than would be expected from a professional football player. After high school, he grew significantly while playing [[college football]] at [[Rio Hondo College]] and the [[University of Colorado, Boulder]].
A resident of [[Guttenberg, New Jersey]],<ref>Staff. [httphttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D00EFDF143EE732A25750C2A9609C946890D6CF "TROY ARCHER DIES; LINEMAN FOR GIANTS; Former Defensive End at Colorado Is Killed in Crash of a Truck in North Bergen, N.J."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 23, 1979. Accessed April 17, 2016.</ref> Archer was killed in an [[Traffic collision|auto accident]]<ref name=Times-News>{{cite news|title=Pro Gridder Troy Archer Killed In Car Accident|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CWAaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0CQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2345%2C6187019|accessdate=22 September 2014|work=The Times-News|publisher=The Times-News|date=June 23, 1970|ref=Times-News}}</ref> during [[Training camp (National Football League)|training camp]]. He had no children but had one niece, Stephanie, and one nephew, Matthew, who were born 12 hours apart.
