University of San Francisco Athletics

Joe Kuharich was born on April 14, 1917, in South Bend, IN. He played football at South Bend High School and college football at the University of Notre Dame where he was named an All-American in 1937. Coach Elmer Layden called him one of the best and smartest players he had ever met, and the two posted a record of 42-37 during their time together. Kuharich was an Assistant Freshman Coach at Notre Dame in 1938, and in 1939, moved to coach a team with a record of losses at the Vincentian Institute in Albany, NY, and took them to the City High School Championship. 
 
He was drafted in the 12^th round of the 1938 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and played for the Chicago Cardinals from 1940-1941. Although the Cardinals were a last place team, Kuharich received NFL First Team Honors in 1941. After playing professional football as an offensive lineman, he served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1944, and then returned to the Cardinals in 1945, his last season as a player. 
 
In 1946 he was an Offensive Line Coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers and in 1947, and then moved to USF in the same position. He was promoted to Head Coach the following year, and was one of the youngest coaches in the country. His overall record was 25-14, including an undefeated 9-0 season in 1951. Kuharich instilled loyalty, respect, and integrity in his players, and is remembered for his brilliant coaching. 
 
Kuharich held his football training camps in Corning, a small town north of Sacramento known for its summer heat. On one afternoon, the temperatures reached 112 F', and the team huddled in any shade they could find. Dons quarterback Bill Henneberry said to Sports Illustrated: “We all went through it, and we all paid the price together. When he talked, the grass stood on end.” Kuharich trained his team as if they were playing Notre Dame every week. Joe Scudero said: “We’d break our necks for each other.”  Gino Marchetti said to Sports Illustrated: “If I put together all the miles I ran that year, I could’ve have gone from San Francisco to New York and back again.”  Guard Vincent Tringali told Sports Illustrated:  “Everything I’ve done since I played for that man has been easy.”
 
While with the Steelers, Kuharich had added a single wing-double wing formation to his plays. It was his version of the T-Formation and the Dons used it effectively. His second season as coach, they finished 7-3, and went undefeated at 9-0-0 in the 1951 season. With two African-American players on the team, Toler and Ollie Matson, they were not invited to any postseason bowl games. Apparently, the owner of the Gator Bowl, Sam Wolfson, had made an agreement with the Orange and Sugar Bowls to omit teams with black players. When the Orange Bowl extended an invitation to them, on the condition that the two African-American players be excluded, the team unanimously declined from then on, they were called the “undefeated, untied, and uninvited.” Although the Dons had been denied a bowl berth, the entire team was recognized at the 2008 Fiesta Bowl, at long last making an appearance in a bowl game. Kuharich said to the NFL: “This was before Rosa Parks, and it was before Martin Luther King. It’s a great story because nobody thought about the ramifications of what they were doing. They just did it.”
 
Unfortunately, without postseason funding, USF was forced to shut down its football program the following year. Attendance at the Kezar games had declined 80% since the arrival of the 49ers in 1946. 
 
The squad featured nine future NFL players, including Pro Football Hall of Fame members and five earned Pro Bowl selections at some point in their career.  Among his most prized pupils was Ollie Matson, who became a Pro Football Hall of Fame Running Back with the Chicago Cardinals. Matson's USF teammates included future Pro Football Hall of Fame players Gino Marchetti (Baltimore Colts) and Bob St. Clair (San Francisco 49ers). Burl Toler, defensive standout who suffered a career-ending knee injury in the College All-Star game, later became the NFL's first African-American official. The team's Student Publicity Director, Pete Rozelle, had a distinguished career as Commissioner of the NFL for 29 years. No other team in college football history can boast as many players and contributors honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the 1951 Dons. 

In 1952, Kuharich was hired as head coach of the Chicago Cardinals. In 1953, he worked as a scout for professional teams, and then in 1954, as head coach for Washington. A successful year earned Kuharich the Coach of the Year Honors in 1955. After five seasons, he left to coach at Notre Dame in 1959. He compiled a 17-23 record over five non-winning seasons. The consensus was that he was never able to make the switch from professional back to college football. The Irish fans had high expectations for their team, and Kuharich resigned in 1963. Despite his lack of success at Notre Dame, he was the only coach to defeat the USC Trojans in 1960 and in 1961.

Kuharich returned to the NFL to coach the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964 and the owner Jerry Wolman made Kuharich Head Coach and General Manager. Despite a series of trades, the Eagles continued to lose with a 6-8 record in 1964, and 5-9 in 1965. The team improved in 1966, finishing 9-5 and the owner offered Kuharich a rare 15-year contract extension. That year the team placed second in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, he was the first coach to wear a wireless microphone for NFL Films. The next two seasons, the team went 6-7-1 and 1-12-0. When they lost the right to draft O.J. Simpson by losing to the Buffalo Bills, the Philadelphia fans actively advocated for his removal, and were openly hostile to him. In 1969, Jerry Wolman sold the Eagles to trucking millionaire Leonard Tose, and he and Kuharich reached a financial settlement on the remaining time he had on his contract. Kuharich’s final record in Philadelphia was 24-41-1.

When Kuharich was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, he was refused to accept the prognosis. He told Sports Illustrated: “When someone tells me things aren’t going right, and that a situation is very serious, and can’t be solved, I can’t accept it,” he said. He went on to live another 10 years, and lived to see Marchetti and Matson inducted into the Hall of Fame, and was present for his own induction at USF in 1970. Vince Tringali, who was a guard and former offensive tackle, successful high school football Coach, and Head Coach at USF, recalled for Sports Illustrated: “We all knew Joe had cancer, and it had been a long time since I’d seen him. I remembered him as such a virile man, so for me, this was a sad occasion. But he touched me deeply that night because, in his speech, he took the time to urge everyone to get out and support my football program. It was supposed to be his night, not mine. You know, in college, I was so afraid of that man, I couldn’t even get up the nerve to say hello. But that night, I came up to him with tears in my eyes, and gave him a big hug and a kiss. I don’t know what came over me, but I know it felt right.”