California University of Pennsylvania Athletics

John Kovalchick played two seasons with the Vulcan football team, but from 1949-1952 he made his name as a student athlete as a four-year starting shortstop on the Vulcan baseball team.

In his freshman season, when the Vulcans began playing road games during spring break, Kovalchick played third base. An excellent fielder and hitter, he soon moved to shortstop and helped the Vulcans and head coach Ed Cubbons achieve four consecutive winning seasons on the diamond.

Kovalchick batted over .330 in each of this first three seasons before batting .401 his senior season, a mark he reached by banging out two hits in the season finale.

Playing for football coach Ted Nemeth, a 2004 Cal U Hall of Fame inductee, Kovalchick was a starting defensive back who also played halfback, in 1952. As a junior, Kovalchick was a member of the 1951 team, which won seven of eight regular season games and competed in the prestigious Pythian Bowl, the program’s first-ever post-season appearance.

Earning Hall of Fame honors has brought back fond memories for Kovalchick, who recalled teammates and fellow inductees such as Mitch Bailey, Elmo Natali, Don Maines and Duke O’Hara. He was nominated for the Hall of Fame by longtime current Cal professor George Novak.

“To be elected into the Hall of Fame is something I never thought about in my wildest dreams,” he said. “I see very elite company in this induction class alone and it’s overwhelming. It was an honor just for George to think about me and nominate me.”

Following his final season on the baseball team, Kovalchick played second base for a semipro team in Kingsley, Iowa.

“A friend of mine (John Konek) was playing down there and said they needed a second baseman because theirs was drafted,” he said. “I told him I was a shortstop but he insisted. Besides to get paid anything to play baseball was incredible to me because I would have done it for nothing. It (Kingsley) was a small town but they had a nice field. That was a great summer.”

He had tryouts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Dodgers but bypassed an invitation to the Pirates’ rookies training camp in order to continue student teaching, maintain his student deferment from military service and complete his bachelor’s degree in education with an emphasis on industrial arts.

“I think everyone has that point in life where you need to make an important or painstaking decision and that was it for me,” he said. “I loved baseball and putting on the Pirates uniform and taking infield drills with the utility players was a thrill but I made the right decision.”

Once he graduated, Kovalchick was drafted by the U.S. Army. He served 16 months in Korea before being discharged in August 1955 with the rank of corporal.

Just days after returning to the United States, Kovalchick began teaching at Bel Air Junior High School in Hartford County, Md., along with his wife, Dolores ’53. The couple married in 1953, and together they raised three children — Karen, Tom and Mike. She passed away in 1999.

For six years Kovalchick taught seventh- and eighth-grade general shop classes. He moved to the district’s middle school in 1961, where he taught many different industrial arts and drafting courses. Kovalchick also served briefly as the junior high school assistant football coach and as Bel Air’s television and audiovisual coordinator for 10 years before retiring from his 36-year teaching career.

While teaching, Kovalchick earned a master’s degree from the University of Maryland.

The impact of his undergraduate education from Cal was evident as he pursued his graduate degree.

“At Maryland both my master’s degree adviser and the heads of the industrial arts department were also graduates of California,” Kovalchick said. “That just showed me the kind of teachers California produces and I received an outstanding education.”

Originally from Philipsburg, Pa., which is now part of the Cal U campus, Kovalchick was a 1948 graduate of East Pike Run High School and served as the class president for four years. One of 10 children, he starred in baseball and also competed in football and basketball during his senior year.

He was part of that high school’s last graduating class before East Pike Run merged into the California school district.

As a high school student, Kovalchick was a standout for California’s American Legion baseball team, which reached the state finals. He was also an all-star shortstop for Fayette City of the popular Big 10 League.

Interestingly, his family convinced him to be their first member to attend college and baseball helped him complete his degree.

“I had no intention of going to school but my brother Ted and sister Mary convinced me not work in the mines or be in the steel mills,” he said. “They wanted me to be only one of us to graduates from college. Playing baseball was my life and when I made the team I was so excited. I believe that had a big influence on me staying in college.”

The multi-sport star still resides in Bel Air. For the past nine years Kovalchick has served on the Board of Directors for the Winter’s Run Golf Course, where he is the Golf Committee Chairman.

Despite making his mark in Maryland, Kovalchick regularly returns home for holidays and family reunions. He marvels at his collegiate alma mater’s growth.

“Oh my goodness every time I come home there’s something new to see,” said Kovalchick. “When I went to college we did not even have one thousand students. Now the campus has expanded all the way to the railroad tracks. I think it’s great.”

Understandably, this year’s Homecoming and coinciding Hall of Fame celebration will be a special one for Kovalchick.

“I enjoyed the sports, especially baseball and played for the love of the game,” he said. “I never kept a scrapbook but have fond memories of playing the game. Looking online at the Hall of Fame section I see so many guys I played with and this has helped me remember many good times. That’s what it’s all about.”