Turner starred at linebacker for Connellsville
West Turner was destined to be a star, at Connellsville High School he was rated as one the top linebackers in the country.
In baseball, he was considered the top product in Western Pennsylvania. It seemed he would follow in the footsteps of his half-brother, Jim Braxton, and have his moment in the sun. Sometimes life throws you a curve and some missteps cost Turner his shot at stardom.
“I did some stupid things,” Turner stated. “But I was never a mean guy, I was never evil. I never intended harm on anybody. I liked to have fun, and obviously, too much fun.”
The 6-4, 240-pound Turner was part of some very competitive football teams at Connellsville. In 1979, the Falcons were 5-5, in 1980 they were 4-5-1. In Turner’s junior campaign, 1981, when he was sidelined for half the season with broken foot, the Falcons posted a record of 6-4-1, they lost to Gateway in the WPIAL Playoffs, 15-6.
In 1982, Connellsville had an outstanding season with a 9-2 record. They lost to Gateway, 13-7, and were defeated by North Hills in the WPIAL Playoffs, 14-0.
“We were a good team,” Turner stated. “North Hills was a good team, but I think that was a missed opportunity there. We had talent, guys like Nate Able, Charlie Swink and Mark Blackstone. We definitely had some players, but, as my dad used to say, you can’t play today’s game with yesterdays score.”
Turner played fullback and linebacker, and was switched to tight end in his senior year. He tallied nine career touchdowns as an offensive player for the Falcons.
Dan Spanish coached Turner in football at Connellsville.
“Coach Spanish in my perspective had a lot of pressure,” Turner opined. “He was a good coach, for the most part, he put the best people on the field that he could.”
Turner was also a force on the basketball court. The Falcons were 10-12 in 1980-81, 21-5, with a 59-47 loss to Latrobe in the WPIAL Playoffs in 1981-82, and in 1982-83, the Falcons went 21-3 and beat Penn-Trafford, 52-48, in the WPIAL Playoffs and then fell to Bethel Park, 90-80. Turner scored 731 career points in basketball. His high game was a 28-point effort in a 79-61 win over Brownsville his senior year.
“I liked playing basketball, I just wasn’t tall enough,” Turner said. “Coach Hal Weightman and I got along, he was a good basketball coach. I hold him in pretty good regard.”
Turner excelled in baseball, and played three seasons for the Falcons. In 1981, they went 28-5. In 1982, Connellsville posted a record of 26-3 and captured the section title and the WPIAL Championship. The Falcons finished 19-9 in Turner’s senior campaign.
“When I’m thinking about it,” Turner said. “Could I have played baseball? Yeah I could of, but I liked football. I was probably better at baseball to be honest with you. But I liked playing football more than I liked playing baseball.”
Turner’s baseball season was cut short in 1983 when he was tossed off the baseball team by coach Tom Sankovich for disciplinary reasons.
“That was an unfortunate episode,” Turner lamented. “All the mistakes I made I think the hardest part was having to face my mom. My dad didn’t say much, but mom was different. When that baseball thing happened it hurt her.”
When Turner was given the boot, he was in the midst of a great season. In 23 games he had six home runs, five doubles, two triples, 36 RBIs, 22 stolen bases and a .457 batting average. Turner was also 5-1 as a pitcher. Turner was on Connellsville’s great American Legion team, and one year, he batted .459.
“I enjoyed American Legion baseball,” Turner offered. “We had a good coach, Herman Welsh, he was a joy to play for.”
Turner graduated from Connellsville in 1983 and sifted through numerous college football scholarship offers.
“I could have probably gone anywhere,” Turner said. “I followed in brother Jim’s footsteps and went to West Virginia.”
Turner played for the Mountaineers in 1983 when they went 9-3 with a win over Kentucky in the Hall of Fame Bowl, and 1984, when they finished 8-4 with a win over TCU in the Bluebonnet Bowl.
Turner made an immediate impact for the Mountaineers during his freshman season. In the game against Boston College in 1983, Turner made a huge hit on the opening kickoff return, knocking out the BC returner and setting up a Mountaineer touchdown. Turner would go on to rack up 85 tackles, a sack, fumble recovery, and a blocked kick in his career.
“I will never forget the hit on the kickoff,” Turner said. “I’m still trying to find the real good film of the hit. Doug Flutie never beat West Virginia when I was in school there. WVU was the one college team that he played against consistently that he never beat.”
Turner got into a shouting match with a football trainer that led to his indefinite suspension as a sophomore. He was dismissed from the team a few months later.
“Don Nehlen was a good coach,” Turner stated. “I made mistakes, did I make a mistake that warranted get dismissed from the team? Probably not, I think that was more of a political issue there. There were guys there that were doing way worse things than what I did yelling at a trainer.”
Turner was in a bad place and began using drugs. He was arrested for intent to distribute cocaine and spent two months in prison. He then tried a career in professional boxing as a heavyweight, and at one point, had a 12-0 record against low-level competition.
“It was an opportunity to stay athletic and stay in athletics,” Turner said of the boxing career. “It was tough for me because I started boxing late, I started when I was 26 years old.”
Turner returned to school at WVU and eventually got his Masters in safety. He straightened his life out and went to work for Dick Corporation. He has been working in safety ever since all over the country. He works now for Parsons as environmental health and safety manager at the Savannah River site disposing of nuclear waste.
Turner, 51, resides in Aiken, South Carolina, with his second wife, Shanda, who he has been married to for 16 years. They have two children: Miles, 12, and Morgan, 10. He has a son, Landon, from his first marriage, who played college football at North Carolina and is now an offensive guard with the New Orleans Saints.
“Life is going to throw you things that aren’t fair, that’s just a fact,” Turner offered. “Especially if you put yourself in positions where you can be compromised and I did that. When I went through all of the things I went through it was so one day I could teach my son exactly what not to do, so he can be successful and he listened to a T and I didn’t get a chance to go pro because of my mistakes. Those mistakes were not repeated by him because he listened. I’m doing things the right way after doing things the wrong way for so long.”
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.