Charles Joseph Jaskwhich (March 4, 1911 – January 12, 1988) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach.

Early life

Jaskwhich was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin to

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

immigrant parents. He attended

Kenosha High School Bradford High School is a high school located in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, that serves students in grades 9 to 12. It is the main high school for students on the north side of the city. History Bradford High School was named after Ma ...

where he graduated in 1929. He was a prolific athlete and he lettered nine times in

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

, football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He served as a three-sport captain his senior year.Chuck Jaskwhich – Kenosha Bradford
Wisconsin Football Coaches Association. Jaskwhich attended

Notre Dame University The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campus ...

, where he played on the last

Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame S ...

squad coached by

Knute Rockne Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

in 1930.Chuck Jaskwhich
SR/College Football. Retrieved August 15, 2012 After

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Frank Carideo Francis F. Carideo (August 4, 1908 – March 17, 1992) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He played quarterback at the University of Notre Dame from 1928 to 1930, where he was a two-time unanimous All-American. ...

graduated Jaskwhich was the top candidate to replace him. In the wake of Rockne's death in 1931,

Heartley Anderson Heartley William "Hunk" Anderson (September 22, 1898 – April 24, 1978) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Saint Louis University (1928–1929), University of Notre Dame (1931–1933), and Nort ...

took over the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

ing position and named Jaskwhich as a two-year starter at quarterback. He would post a record of 13–4–1. Jaskwhich also played for the Fighting Irish

team.

Coaching career

After graduation Jaskwhich accepted the position of head football coach for the Holy Cross Tigers in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, and then in 1938 he was hired as both head basketball coach and football backfield coach for Ole Miss, where he spent five years. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in a temporary capacity as the assistant football coach for the

Naval A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

pre-flight school on the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

campus. In 1945 Jaskwhich became the backfield coach under

Clem Crowe Clem F. Crowe (October 18, 1903 – April 13, 1983) was an American gridiron football and basketball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Saint Vincent College (1926–1931), Xavier University (1936–1943), and the Univers ...

on the

Iowa Hawkeyes football The Iowa Hawkeyes football program represents the University of Iowa in college football. The Hawkeyes compete in the West division of the Big Ten Conference. Iowa joined the Conference (then known as the Western Conference or Big Nine) in 1899 ...

team at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. After Crowe left Iowa to go to the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

, Jaskwhich became the head coach at Iowa. In 1946 Jaskwhich joined Crowe as a scout for the bills 1946 and from 1947–49 he was the Bill's backfield coach. In 1949, he returned to Kenosha to coach football and direct the athletic programs at

Mary D. Bradford High School Bradford High School is a high school located in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, that serves students in grades 9 to 12. It is the main high school for students on the north side of the city. History Bradford High School was named after M ...

. He also coached the basketball and track teams and his teams won the Big 8 title three times and State title once. He retired from the Kenosha school system in 1980. On August 3, 1953 Jaskwhich saved the life of a twelve-year-old drowning victim, Mary Jo Parisea, who was swimming on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

at Alford Park in Kenosha. The girl's friend was also rescued by bystanders, but her mother, Claire Parisea, died of drowning. The Charles "Chuck" Jaskwhich Stadium at Indian Trail High School and Academy in Kenosha is named in Jaskwhich's honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaskwhich, Chuck 1911 births 1988 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Wisconsin Basketball players from Wisconsin American football quarterbacks Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers football coaches High school football coaches in Louisiana High school football coaches in Wisconsin Iowa Hawkeyes football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Kenosha, Wisconsin Mary D. Bradford High School alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II