John Edward "Jack" Kurkowski (September 28, 1922 – March 14, 2005) 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. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Detroit Titans football The Detroit Titans were the college football team which represented the University of Detroit (now University of Detroit Mercy) from 1896 to 1964. Under head coach Gus Dorais in 1928, the Titans won all nine of their games. Several years later ...

team. He led the NCAA major college backs with an average of 10.1 rushing yards per carry during the 1947 season.ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 1209. He ran 80 yards for a touchdown against Duquesne in October 1947. During his career with the Titans, Kurkowski gained 1,315 yards on 192 carries for an average of 6.9 yards per carry. In December 1948, Kurkowski signed with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

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 ...

. He was inducted into the Detroit Titans Hall of Fame in 1982. He lived in Royal Oak, Michigan, for 55 years and died in 2005 at age 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurkowski, Jack 1922 births 2005 deaths American football halfbacks Detroit Titans football players Players of American football from Detroit