Minko played at Michigan after Connellsville
John Minko like so many players back in the day used athletics as a springboard to a college education.
Minko was a football and track standout for Connellsville High School in the late 1950s. John was the third and last member of his family to wear the Orange and Black and fill a tackle berth on the Coker squad. His older brother Mike performed for Connellsville before advancing to play college ball at Syracuse. Another brother, Joe, immediately preceded John at the tackle spot for the Cokers.
Minko started on the varsity as a junior and senior.
“I played behind a guy I played against in college,” Minko stated. “His name was Wilbur Scott. He was outstanding and when I was a sophomore in college we played against Indiana and he lined up opposite me. He had a big smile and said ‘I’m going to kick your butt.’ He always used to say that at practice in high school.
The Cokers produced records of 3-4-1 and 2-8 in 1957 and 1958. One of the big highlights in 1957 was a 12-6 upset win over Brownsville.
“We were terrible my senior year,” Minko opined. “We had talent despite the record. When I was a sophomore, we had a center who went to Duke, Don Lynn, and a tackle that went to North Carolina, Dick Benzio. Jim Cunningham was the fullback and we had a running back named Bobby Baker and there were some other pretty good ballplayers during that period, guys like Bob Harrison who went to Rutgers and my junior year we had a center Jerry Micher who went to William & Mary.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win more. When I was a sophomore we lost to Uniontown 13-7,” Minko recalled. “We drove 75 yards to the Raider goal line, but the clock ran out and we lost.”
Minko had a good relationship with Connellsville coach Roger Speidel.
“I thought he was a good coach,” Minko said. “He was really enthusiastic. Like most coaches at Connellsville, the fans turned on him real quick.”
For his grid performance, Minko won honors on the Foothills Conference all-star team and recognition on the Fayette County and WPIAL teams. He also played for the West Penn stars in the annual Jaycee grid battle.
“Most of the honors were kind of surprising,” Minko said. “I accomplished a lot of things that I never thought I would. When I was in eighth grade, college was totally out of the question, but when my brother was able to get a scholarship to Syracuse, it was totally a fluke. He was spotted at an all-star game and ended up getting a scholarship. That broke the barrier and toward my junior year I felt I had a chance to go to college.”
Minko excelled in track and played a little bit of basketball as a sophomore.
“I enjoyed track and field,” Minko offered. “I placed first in the shot put at the Fayette County track meet as a senior and finished second in the WPIAL meet. The WPIAL winner was Tom Urbanik from Donora who later played fullback at Penn State. I finished sixth in the shot put at the state championships.
“I played baseball for the Connellsville American Legion team. I really enjoyed baseball and we had a good legion team.”
When Minko graduated from Connellsville in 1959 several schools came knocking with scholarship offers, including Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Army, Navy and Miami of Florida. The 6-0, 210-pounder decided to go to Michigan.
“It was really a fluke,” Minko explained. “Being involved with track I ran into a bird dog for Michigan at the Canonsburg relays. He talked to me about Michigan. We had a track meet scheduled at Mt. Lebanon the same night as the prom. They canceled the track meet so kids could go to the prom. I had no intention of going to the prom, so I had a free evening and I contacted this scout and wound up going out to visit Michigan. I was overwhelmed and decided to go there.”
Michigan was coached by Bump Elliot and the Wolverines posted records of 5-4, 6-3 and 2-7 during Minko’s three varsity seasons from 1960 to 1962.
“We didn’t play freshman ball in the Big Ten,” Minko stated. “We played in the ‘Toilet Bowl’ on Monday’s against the varsity that didn’t play in Saturday’s game. I had suffered a knee injury at Connellsville my senior year, and my right knee was bothering me. At Christmas time during my freshman year, I had an operation and fixed that knee.
“As a sophomore I won a letter as a backup guard. My junior year I started and went both ways, I also played on the defensive line and at outside linebacker. I started as a senior. When I was a junior, I averaged 48 minutes a game.
“We had some talent, Bennie McRae was an outstanding player. We had a good back named Dave Raimey and a quarterback named Bob Timberlake who was drafted by the New York Giants.”
Minko doesn’t regret the decision to go to Michigan. Minko was contacted by the pros, but never got the opportunity.
He went to work for General Motors and worked in various capacities after spending a year at Michigan as a graduate assistant. He worked 35 years with GM and retired in 1999.
Minko, 71, and his wife of 45 years, Gloria, reside in Martinsburg, W.Va., and are the parents of one son, Joseph, who is a lawyer in Baltimore.