Donora’s Turkovich started in football for Sun Devils
Steve Turkovich is probably the only Western Pennsylvanian to be sucker punched by Bill Parcells, but more on that later.
Give the football to Turkovich two straight times, and he’d churn out a first down with yards to spare. At Donora High School (Class of 1960), he averaged 7.8 yards per touch and even at Arizona State University, he was good for 12 yards every two carries.
In high school Turkovich really didn’t shine until he was a senior because as a junior he sustained a knee injury in his first game, and he recalled that in the next contest, “I broke three vertebrae and got a concussion. The game was against Redstone and on the third play, a sweep where I picked up about 21 yards, five Redstone kids rammed me into the Donora bench. I broke my fibula and ankle bones. So that was my junior year, just three games.”
The next season, 1959, the swift 5-foot-8, 170-pound halfback ran for 817 yards in just nine contests. He also returned 21 kickoffs for 483 yards, 23 per return. If that wasn’t enough, he had two interceptions and a fumble recovery. All of that earned him a nomination to the Big 33 squad and won him a spot on the All Big Six team.
Opponents began focusing on him, so coach Jimmy Russell began moving his asset around. Turkovich said, “I’d be at right half then left and so on.” The strategy worked — against Charleroi he said he ran for 142 yards, scored Donora’s only touchdown and “made tons of tackles.”
One Cougar, Mickey Bitsko, even approached Turkovich and said, “You know, you’re getting all these yards by yourself,” because Donora, decimated by injuries, had to go with inexperienced linemen. “We had only 19 guys out for football and the teams we played were so much bigger than us, we lost a lot of guys with injuries.”
Donora fought valiantly for three quarters. “It was 14-7, Charleroi,” he remembered. “Then they scored after a fumble and the gates opened up.” There were many scouts from major colleges such as Notre Dame in attendance, mainly to watch undefeated Charleroi stars. However, Turkovich’s impressive performance led to 15 college offers. “There was no ‘give up’ in me,” he stated. “I hustled the whole game. And they couldn’t believe how fast I was.” Turkovich said he was usually clocked at a scorching 10.1 to 10.3 in the 100-yard dash.
“Our next game was against undefeated Clairton,” he said. “Their coach told Russell that I was the best running back on the field.”
After the season, Turkovich attended a Twin Coaches sports banquet which featured coaches Joe Kuharich of Notre Dame and Michigan State’s Duffy Daugherty. Turkovich received an offer to play for the Fighting Irish, a life long dream, but after conferring with his father, he chose to play for Arizona State.
His father pointed out that while Kuharich wanted him, there was a strong chance that Kuharich wouldn’t be there for Steve’s entire career and another coach might shun Kuharich’s picks. Father was correct as Kuharich left the job in early 1963 and Ara Parseghian took over.
Although used sparingly as a runner at ASU, Turkovich, who said he once bench pressed 320 pounds and squatted 610 pounds, averaged a sizzling 6.1 yards per carry from 1961-1963. Sounds like they should have given him the ball more frequently. He was the only freshman to make the varsity traveling team in 1960, and his first road game marked his first airplane trip, one that terrified him.
In 1961, the Sun Devils went 7-3, followed by a 7-2-1 season. Then, in 1963, his team, featuring future NFL players Henry Carr, Tony Lorick and Hall of Famer Charley Taylor, went 8-1. Turkovich left the campus having earned three football letters. He was even asked to try out for the Dallas Texans of the old AFL.
As for the Parcells incident: “With ASU up, 13-0, against Wichita State, fights broke out. I’m playing halfback and we ran a sweep. I was to block a linebacker, Parcells, to the inside. I went down to block his legs. Because a whistle blew, I relaxed. He cold cocked me and shut my eye. The guys in the huddle asked me what the hell happened to my eye. I said, ‘That S.O.B. punched me through my (single bar) face mask.’ That was the dirtiest football team I played in college. When they piled on, they bit my leg and pulled hairs on my legs, and he ends up (a Hall of Fame NFL) coach.”
As a coach himself, Turkovich won two high school state championships in football and basketball, and one title in track and field and in cross country during his teaching career. He even coached Olympic gold medalist Nick Hysong. Turkovich taught physical education, weightlifting, wellness classes, and special physical education classes.
As skilled at his jobs as he had been on the gridiron, he became a member of the Hall of Fame of two of his schools. He still makes Arizona his home.