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Into the Hall: Tom Kostelnik

By Rob Burchianti 5 min read
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Brownsville (Brashear) graduate Tom Kostelnik is shown during his playing days at Notre Dame. Kostelnik, who died in 2018, is part of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
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Brashear (Brownsville) graduate Tom Kostelnik can be seen in this 1964 Sports Illustrated magazine cover in his No. 52 Notre Dame uniform running behind Fighting Irish teammate John Huarte.

Tom Kostelnik was a multi-sport athlete at Brashear High School but football became his clearcut path to college as he received a slew of NCAA Division-I scholarship offers in 1961.

While he could go just about anywhere, one school caught his eye.

“I had a ton of offers,” the late Kostelnik said in an interview with George Von Benko. “It all stopped when I got the offer from Notre Dame.”

Kostelnik would go on to play three varsity seasons with the Fighting Irish and was the starting linebacker in Ara Parseghian’s first year as coach at Notre Dame in 1964 when the team went 9-1.

Kostelnik made good use of his degree from Notre Dame as a successful business career would follow.

Kostelnik is part of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

Kostelnik’s brother in law, Jim Wardman, pointed out Kostelnik wasn’t one to seek out attention when he spoke on Von Benko’s Sports Talk Radio Show recently.

“He was a very humble guy,” Wardman said. “He would not go into the spotlight very often, but I’m sure he would’ve loved it.”

Kostlenik played center and linebacker at Brashear – now Brownsville Area High School – and was good enough to earn UPI All-State honors. He also played for Pennsylvania in the 1961 Big 33 All-Star Game.

“My sister showed me a picture of him in the all-star game,” Wardman said. “The team is pictured and Joe Namath is in the upper lefthand corner. He was on the all-star team with Joe Namath.”

Kostelnik was also named to the 1960 National High School All-America Football Team.

Kostelnik also was a fine basketball player in high school. He starred in track & field as well and won a WPIAL gold medal in the high hurdle shuttle relay under coach John Henck in 1961.

“That was all football players: Paul Cesko, Willibe Brooks, Ron Matteucci and me,” Kostelnik recalled. “Jack Henck was the track coach and I lived a couple of blocks from him and I did all my workouts in the gym he had set up in his garage. He was a great coach who had us well prepared and in great condition.”

“He was a very good athlete in everything that he participated in,” Wardman said.

He would continue his football career with the Fighting Irish.

“That was his dream to go to Notre Dame,” Wardman said.

Kostelnik suffered a thigh injury his junior year at Notre Dame but moved into a starting inside linebacker position his senior year when Parseghian took over.

“Ara was a very good coach,” Wardman said. “He was very well organized. He came into a program where Tom and the other players had all been playing together for two years, and things just clicked.

“He just loved the coach and he loved his teammates and they did anything that they could do to get better and win.”

Wardman pointed out a key play Kostelnik made in a close win over Air Force his senior season.

“He intercepted a pass that turned the tide and prevented Air Force from scoring the winning touchdown,” Wardman explained. “He got the game ball.”

Kostelnik also worked his way onto the cover of Sports Illustrated that year. The photo shows Notre Dame’s John Huarte running onto the field, and Kostelnik, in his No. 52 jersey, can be seen behind Huarte.

“My sister has it framed,” Wardman said. “It’s up on the mantel.”

Notre Dame’s lone loss that season came at the hands of USC.

“The loss to Southern Cal is still fresh in my mind,” Kostelnik said in his interview with Von Benko. “I know exactly where I was in the last 1:33 when they scored. It was a bitter pill.”

Three controversial calls went against Notre Dame in the game, as Kostelnik pointed out. One nullified a touchdown, one brought back a long play early in the fourth quarter, and the third was a holding penalty on the Fighting Irish’s final punt to USC.

“They couldn’t determine if it was on me – I was the long snapper – or on the guard,” Kostelnik said of the holding call which greatly improved the Trojans’ field position and set up their winning score. “When asked who it was, the official gave us a number that wasn’t on the field.”

Even so, Kostelnik’s memories of his final year at Notre Dame were good.

“Six of us got picked to play in the North-South Shrine Game in Miami on Christmas Day,” Kostelnik noted.

“It was a great decision to go to Notre Dame. I ended up with a great education.”

Kostelnik and his wife Connie remained Notre Dame fans after Kostelnik graduated.

“They went to just about every game they could go to, home or away,” Wardman said.

Kostelnik eventually got his masters degree at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio.

“He worked for a lot of good companies after he got his CPA and his masters,” Wardman said. “He had a very good career.”

Kostelnik retired in 2005. He died May 19, 2018, at the age of 75.

The Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame Golf Outing/Luncheon/Social, starting with golf at 9 a.m., on Friday at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Connellsville. Luncheon tickets are sold out and all spots in the golf outing have been filled.

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