A Son’s Tribute
Builds Connections Between Generations of Friars By Jim Mack
Aaron Brady, Malvern Prep’s Head Football Coach and Director of Experiential Learning, has a quote by Joe Kuharich P’71 taped to his office wall. It reads, “If you take a task on, it is a sin to not finish it.” That message has shaped the life Bill Kuharich ’71, and, today, he is working to make sure these words of his father are heard and understood by future generations of Malvern Friars. Philadelphia Eagles fans might remember the name of Joe Kuharch, who guided the Birds through the 1964 to 1968 seasons. Joe, who also coached the Washington Redskins and Chicago Cardinals in the NFL, as well as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, took his first head coaching position with the University of San Francisco. It was there that Joe uttered that quote and where he took a stand that may have hastened the end of the Dons’ football program. In 1951, San Francisco went 9-0 and was invited to participate in the Orange Bowl in Miami in the still-segregated South—under the condition that they leave their two black players home. The bowl game would have been a boon to the cash-strapped program, but Joe and his team refused the offer. The Dons’ program was shut down that year, but the players never forgot what Joe Kuharich stood for. At the 40th Reunion of that 1951 team, Bill Kuharich and his family created a scholarship for students with financial need in memory of Joe, who passed away in 1981. That scholarship program has been a success for the past 23 years, and Bill now hopes to replicate that success at each of the schools he has attended.
18 / Malvern Magazine / Fall 2015
Bill Kuharich ’71 (left) with his dad, Joe Kuharich P’71, at Eagles’ training camp Hershey, Pa., in 1967.