GW Athletics Mourns the Passing of Stephen Korcheck
9/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
This post was written by former GW Athletics employee and longtime Sports Information Director Ed McKee
Early Years
Stephen Korcheck was born in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, a small coal mining community (pop. 895 in 1950, now 472) in southwestern Pennsylvania, to Anna and Michael Korcheck. He actually grew up in Nemacolin, Pa., a Buckeye Coal Co.-owned village. Steve played sports at Cumberland Township High School and is thought to be the finest athlete to ever come out of Greene County.
He was the second of three sons. His father, a coal miner, wanted 'better' for his sons--never allowing them to enter the mines. (According to Steve's daughter, the first time Steve entered a mine was when Senators' teammate Eddie Yost wanted to see and tour it for himself.)
Steve's brothers were Mike (1932-54) and Bob. Mike was a top Brooklyn Dodgers' shortstop prospect. Rapidly making his way through Brooklyn's farm system, Mike was being groomed to possibly succeed Dodgers' veteran Pee Wee Reese, when he tragically died at age 24 on Christmas Eve, 1954 of a kidney illness. Bob went on to a long career as a college professor both at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and later at California State College in California, Pa., from which he retired.
At George Washington
Steve, at 6-1, 205 pounds, was recruited to GW to play two sports: football and baseball.
Steve played three varsity seasons each of football and baseball for the Colonials. Years were '51, '52 and '53 in football and '52, '53 and '54 in baseball.
He excelled in both. In 1953 alone, he was captain of the football team, starred at center on offense and linebacker on defense, was named Southern Conference 'Player of the Year', was named third team AP All-America and was recipient the area's prestigious Player of the Year award by the Washington Touchdown Club. In baseball, he also was the Southern Conference's all-conference catcher.
Note, at that time, members of the Southern Conference included all the schools which left the SC to establish the ACC (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, N.C. State, Clemson, Wake Forest and South Carolina), plus VPI (now Virginia Tech) and several other colleges along the eastern seaboard.
Upon the completion of his college playing careers, Steve was drafted in the third round (35th player selected) of the 1954 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers before signing a baseball contract with the 'hometown' Washington Senators. (In those days, GW played several home games annually at Griffith Stadium, home of the Senators.)
Pro ball -- 'The Show'
At the age of 22, Steve made his big league debut (Sept 6, 1954) with the Senators, becoming the first of just four GW products to play Major League Baseball.
Following him (to date) were: infielder Sam Perlozzo '73 (Twins and Padres), catcher John Flaherty '89 (Red Sox, Tigers, Padres, Rays and Yankees) and left handed pitcher Mike O'Connor '02 (Nationals and Mets).
Steve played parts of four seasons in the majors ('54-55 and '58-59) with the Senators. His baseball career was interrupted for two years ('56-57) of military service in the U.S. Army, where his primary service was at Fort McClellan, Alabama.
His best offensive season in the majors was 1955 when he batted .278 in 13 games. In 58 big league games in four years, he had 23 hits, including six doubles, a triple and seven RBIs. In four minor league seasons, he hit .253 in 257 games. Steve was one of two MLB catchers, at the time, who wore glasses--the other being Clint Courtney, backstop for the St. Louis Browns and Baltimore Orioles.
When the Senators departed Washington to become the Minnesota Twins in 1961, Steve decided to call it quits as a player at age 28.
Post-Pro Baseball
Upon ending his playing career, Steve returned to GW to pursue both a master's degree and Ed. D. in education. While doing so, he also served as head baseball coach at GW from 1966-70 and, as such, affected the lives of numerous Colonials student-athletes.
Baseball, Teamed with Education
In 1970, the Kansas City Royals, a 1969 expansion franchise, initiated a revolutionary concept in pro baseball with the establishment of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy. The team signed talented high school and college-age athletes with no prior baseball experience and taught them the necessary skills to potentially become major league players.
Korcheck, coordinator of instruction in 1970-71, also served as one of seven academy instructors at Sarasota, Fla. Others included former Senators teammates Chuck Stobbs, Jim Lemon and Bill Fischer, former Yankees' great Tommy Henrich and former Royals manager Joe Gordon.
Though the academy lasted just four years (through 1974), it developed three solid major leaguers for KC: Frank White, longtime Royals' second baseman, Ron Washington, former manager of the Texas Rangers and now a coach with Oakland, and U L Washington, who played 10 big league seasons with KC, Montreal and Pittsburgh ('77-87).
Second Career
Leaving the Royals' in 1971, Korcheck joined the coaching staff as assistant baseball coach and pitching coach under head coach Bob Wynn at Manatee Junior College (later known as Manatee Community College and now State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota) in Bradenton. In '72, MCC lost the Junior College World Series' title game. He was head coach from '73-77 when he was named the school's Director of Instruction. Dr. Korcheck was named the college's third president in 1980 and remained its president until retiring in 1997. He was elected to CSF Manatee's inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
Family
Steve, married twice (Nancy and Dot), is survived by children, Mike, and his wife, Sandy, of Valrico, Fla., and Stephanie of Austin, Texas. He is also survived by three grandchildren: Kristin Korcheck of New York City, a Digital Account Manager for Entertainment and Emerging Customers at Turner Broadcasting; Lauren Stepita, a Pediatric ER Nurse at the Tucson Medical Center, and her husband, Michael, of Tucson and Matt Korcheck, a 6-10, 235-pound basketball center, who played collegiately at University of Arizona '15 and now plays professionally in the Australian Football League. Steve's second wife, Dot, died in 2014 after 24 years of marriage.​
GW Honors
In addition to earning three degrees at GW, Steve also was the recipient of the University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1993. He was inducted into the George Washington University Athletic Hall of Hall in 1975. He is one of just 17 Colonials athletes in the AHOF who played multiple sports.