The first time I saw Kowalczyk run I shook my head and said, “WOW!
If you’re a college football fan, I’ll bet you remember the first college player who turned your turn. As a kid, I had two. Both were running backs. One was near, Syracuse legend, Jim Brown. The other was afar, Michigan State’s Walt Kowalczyk.
Courtesy: Amazon.com
Brown was an easy choice. I lived in Syracuse when Brown played for the Orange. Kowalczyk? I only saw him in college football magazines and, occasionally, on TV.
I loved Brown. He was marvelously agile and graceful. I loved Kowalczyk. He was rough and tough.
So much has been written about Brown over the years, but not as much is known about Kowalczyk. Here’s my take.
An all-state running back out of Massachusetts, Kowalczyk’s dream was to play for Notre Dame. But life has a way of pushing you in unexpected directions. For Kowalczyk, it meant Notre Dame wasn’t in the cards.
Years later, Kowalczyk mused about his plight: “The Irish told me I was too small, too slow, and I just didn’t fit into their football scheme. So I decided I wanted to go to a school where I could have an opportunity to play against Notre Dame, and hopefully, knock their socks off!”
Michigan State was that place. And Kowalczyk got the opportunity he relished.
Kowalczyk played for Spartan great, Duffy Daugherty. The years were 1955-57. He became an All-America and finished third in the Heisman Trophy vote during his senior year.
Starting at right halfback at 6 feet and 200 pounds, Kowalczyk had a straight-ahead, in-your-face style. Once in the open he’d sprint—nothing fancy—but he’d run as fast as he could, helmet slightly bowed, body pointed toward the goal line.
His style just had to carry a name, and he got one, too, “The Sprinting Blacksmith” and sometimes two, “The Hammerin’ Blacksmith.” Kowalczyk earned nicknames because of his hard-labor summer jobs—from carrying steel to jobbing in a sawmill to working on construction.
Watch Kowalczyk #14 score the winning TD against Illinois with a long sprint at game’s end (3:10 mark of the video).
Over his career, MSU went 24-4 with consecutive top ten rankings and two top-three finishes. Kowalczyk was MVP of the 1956 Rose Bowl. During his season year, the Spartans lost only one game (Purdue) and beat rivals Michigan and Notre Dame by a combined score of 69-12. Those wins and margins were Kowalczyk’s crowning glory.
When I was a kid, I never thought I’d end up working at Michigan State. Life pushed me there. And what I didn’t know as a youth—in those days long ago–I definitely know now. “The Sprinting Blacksmith” didn’t just play for the Spartans, he was a Spartan … tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar.
Walt Kowalczyk passed away Wednesday. He was 83.
Courtesy: Lansing State Journal
