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1917–1981 · South Bend by birth and formation
Joseph Lawrence Kuharich was born April 14, 1917, in South Bend, and played at James Whitcomb Riley High School before going to Notre Dame, where he was a guard from 1935 to 1937 under Elmer Layden — who rated him one of the best and smartest players he ever coached — and played his part in Notre Dame's famous 1935 comeback against Ohio State. Pittsburgh's NFL club drafted him in the twelfth round in 1938; he played for the Chicago Cardinals in 1940, 1941 and 1945. Then came the coaching life that makes him the largest football figure this city produced on its own ground: head coach at the University of San Francisco from 1948 to 1951, the Chicago Cardinals in 1952, Washington from 1954 to 1958, and then home — Notre Dame's head coach from 1959 to 1962, the ambition of his life. His Irish went 17–23, and he remains the only Notre Dame coach with a losing career record there, though his teams shut out Southern California back to back in 1960 and 1961, a feat no other Irish coach has matched against that rival. He closed with Philadelphia from 1964 to 1968; his NFL coaching record stood 58–81–3. He died January 25, 1981 — the day the Eagles, his last team, lost Super Bowl XV.
Sources
- Pro Football Reference — the South Bend birth, the playing seasons and the coaching record of 58–81–3.
- The standard biographical record — Riley High School, the Notre Dame playing years and the 1935 Ohio State game, the coaching sequence, the USC shutouts and the date of his death.