One of the most celebrated Ridley Park football players was Bill Kurlish. In 1936 he received All-American mention at the University of Pennsylvania. For Kurlish this honor was quite unique because not only was he one of the best fullbacks and linebackers in the country, but Penn was one of the best teams in the country. At that time, Penn played some of strongest teams in college football such as: Princeton, Navy, Michigan. Penn State, Cornell, Lafayette and Yale. His All-American honor seems to be more impressive because of the high level of college football he had played. Bill Kurlish. was born in Philadelphia and moved to Crum Lynn when he was five years old. His father was employed by the Baldwin Locomotive Company. Bill attended the Leiperville Public Shool and then later went to Ridley Park High School. At Ridley Park he excelled in football and track, during his junior year the "Parkers" were Delaware County Champions in football and he was selected as the All-Suburban fullback. In track he was the best weight-man on the team. During his senior year, Ridley Park's football team was not as good as the year before, but he again was the All-Suburban fullback. In track. Bill was the state champion in the shotup and held the Pennsylvania State shot-put record for one year. After an outstanding high school career. Bill was recruited by many schools. He was eventually given an appointment by a senator to attend the Naval Academy. However, the University of Pennsylvania was also offering him a full scholarship to play football. After much confusion with the Naval Academy, he was forced to accept the scholarship from Penn. 8ill arrived at Penn in the fall of 1933 with three other running backs who would play a major part in his football career. These four running backs would play together for their entire careers at Penn. As freshmen they could not play on the varsity, but they did start together on an excellent freshman team coached by former Penn star George Munger. The varsity did not do as well; suffering their first losing season since 1915. Because of their rejuvenation of the Penn football program, This new backfield was called "The Destiny Backfield" named for the F.D.R speech delivered in their freshman year. In the first game of their sophomore year, against Ursinus. the Destiny Backfield made their debut. Franny Murray was the quarterback, Law Elverson was the right halfback; Eddie Warwick played left halfback, and Bill Kuriish was the fullback. In the third game of the season against Rutgers, Bill broke his ankle and missed the rest of the season. Even after playing only three games Kurlish was regarded as one of the best backs that Penn had had for many years. Later in his sophomore year, Bill went out for the boxing team. He fought as a heavyweight and developed a fine record. However, he only boxed for that one year. With Bill's ankle healed, the Destiny Backfield again was together for the start of their third season. They had a tough schedule and lost to Princeton, Yale, Navy and Michigan. The team finished the season with a 4-4 record. Bill's senior year began with a 35-0 thrashing of Lafayette. This would be the last season of Penn's famous Destiny Backfield. The next game was a hard-fought loss to Yale, 7-0. Playing for Yale in that game was the 1936 Heisman Trophy winner, Larry Kelly, and also the 1937 Heisman winner Clint Frank. Yale also had a little known assistant coach by the name of Gerald Ford. The future President Ford was one of the football coaches and also was head coach of the boxing team. After the loss to Yale, Penn won six consecutive games. The first victory in this streak was a 7-0 win over Princeton. Princeton was a really strong team coached by the great Fritz Crisler. In the first quarter, Penn's Lew Elverson ran back a punt return 57 yards for a touchdown. Kurlish made the block that got Lew loose for the score. Neither team scored again for the rest of the game. However, Penn, with Kurlish at linebacker, stopped the tigers five times inside their 10-yard line, including three times in the fourth quarter. On one occasion, Princeton got as close as the Penn two-yard line. Tom Thorp, the eminent official, and Damon Runyan, equally eminent in the field of sports reporting and in fictlon writing, had only praise for Kurlish after the Princeton game. Both said that Bill was one of the best defensive players in the country. Runyon said, "that in addition to backing up a line superbly, Kurlish can crack open an opposing line with the power of a human catapault." Penn continued its winning ways by defeating Brown, Navy, Michigan, and Penn State. The last game of the season was on Thanksgiving Day against Cornell. There were 65,000 fans at Franklin Field that day to watch the Destiny Backfield play for the very last time. They were not disappointed because Penn won, 14-6. Kurlish was the outstanding player of the game. The papers stated after the game that it took two and three Cornell players to bring the big fullback down. When the team didn't open holes for him, he made his own holes. One reporter said, "Kurlish was hitting like Joe Louis. When he connected, they dropped." It was a fine way to end a brilliant football career, but the best was yet to come. The end of the season brought many honors for Bill. He was selected for the All-Pennsylvania State team, Fritz Crisler's All-Rival team, and the All-Eastern team. However, his greatest achievement was his All-American honor. There were quite a few people who picked All-American teams, and Bill was on every one of them. Penn finished the season ranked 10th in the nation with a record of 7-1. It was the best season for Penn since 1928. There was even an outside chance that Penn would be chosen to play in the Rose Bowl, but the University of Pittsburgh was invited because they had finished third in the nation. Minnesota finished number one in the country with an All-American by the name of Bud Wilkinson. Another honor was bestowed on Bill when he was selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game with teammate Franny Murray. The East won by a score of 3-0. Heisman winner Larry Kelly was the game's Most Valuable Player. However, Kurlish played a good game by doing much of the running and playing brilliant defense. Bill graduated from Penn in 1937 with honors in electrical engineering. However, before graduating, Bill and Franny Murray received one more honor. They were drafted by teams in the NFL. Murray was drafted in the second round by the Philadelphia Eagles and Bill was drafted in the eighth round by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Bud Wilkinson and Sammy Baugh were also drafted that year. Wilkinson by the Green Bay Packers and Baugh by the Boston Redskins. Bill decided not to play pro ball and took a job with the Philadelphia Electric Company. During World II he worked on many battleships as an engineer for General Electric. Bill Kurlish retired in January 1987, just 50 years after he made gridiron history at Penn. He is, without a doubt, Ridley Park's most celebrated football player and one of the best players our country has ever produced. |
