Sandy Vincent Durko (born August 29, 1948) is a former

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 wit ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

. Durko played football at

West Covina High School West Covina High School (WCHS) is a four-year comprehensive secondary school located in West Covina, California, USA. History West Covina High School opened in 1956 on the old Covina High School campus on Citrus Ave. and Puente Ave. as the Spa ...

West Covina, California West Covina is a suburban city in Los Angeles County, California, located east of Downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley and is part of Greater Los Angeles. The population for the city was 106,098 at the 2010 census. West Covi ...

, leading the team to a 1965 CIF championship. Durko played college football for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

as a starting

. In the 1968 USC-

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

game, on the second play from scrimmage Durko intercepted a

Joe Theismann Joseph Robert Theismann (born September 9, 1949) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, corporate speaker and restaurateur. He rose to fame playing quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadia ...

and returned it for a touchdown in a game that ended in a 21-21 tie. He was selected in the sixth round (137th overall) of the

1970 NFL Draft The 1970 National Football League Draft was the 35th National Football League Draft and the first of the league's modern era, following the merger of the National Football League with the American Football League. It was held on January 27–28, ...

by the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

. He played in only one game in his rookie year of 1970, the Bengals' first year in the NFL after the AFL-NFL merger. In 1971, however, he saw significant playing time at free safety, playing in all 14 games with four interceptions returned for a total of 46 yards. He also returned six punts for 14 yards and even rushed once for seven yards. In 1973, he joined the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

and started in all of the Patriots' 14 games, picking off three passes. He also returned three punts for 21 yards. The following year, 1974, was his fourth and final NFL season, as Durko played 11 games and started four for the Patriots. In 2011, he was one of 12 honorees inducted into the West Covina Walk of Fame, which "honors athletes, coaches and sports volunteers from the city who have made significant contributions in making West Covina a better place to live, work and play. Durko is currently an investment management professional in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durko, Sandy 1948 births Living people American football defensive backs Cincinnati Bengals players New England Patriots players USC Trojans football players Players of American football from Los Angeles