Kuncel, Alfred J. “Al”

Alfred J. “Al” Kuncel – (1997)

 

The mere mention of the name “Al Kuncel” stirs among Lorain’s “older” generation, and in many instances even younger generations, an excitement that sports fans, and in many instances even those not intrigued by athletic prowess, can truly appreciate.

To them, the man behind the name Al Kuncel is, indeed, a legend. He died of cancer 31 years ago (May 2, 1966) at the age of 42.

Kuncel epitomized the rare gift of being the strong, silent type in his heyday as an all-around athlete at Lorain High School, from where he graduated in 1942. His dominant sport was football in an era when two-way players were commonplace, but he also excelled on the LHS track team.

His football coach, the late Harold Pryor who was enshrined into the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame last year, made no bones about it. He labeled Kuncel “…the best blocking back I ever coached.” Considered small at about 6-feet and 185 pounds by today’s football standards, Kuncel played fullback and quarterback in the by-gone era of double and single wing formation offensive football. In addition to calling plays, his backfield specialty was as a blocking back. When another LHS great named Hugo Trucello came along at quarterback, Kuncel played offensive tackle his senior year on the 1941 team.

How good was the move from backfield to offensive line?

When The Lorain Journal announced its 1941 All-Lake Erie League All-Star team, Kuncel was named first team left tackle. The quarterback on that team was his Steeler teammate, Hugo Truscello who was enshrined in the LSHOF last year. Another future LSHOF enshrinee who was awarded honorable mention on the ’41 all-star team was sophomore Joe Bartos who was destined to go on the collegiate greatness at the U.S. Naval Academy (Navy), then in the pro ranks briefly with the Washington Redskins.

Before he got to high school, Kuncel nurtured his gridiron and track skills at Hawthorne Junior High School under the late Elwood Zaebst who once recalled how “everyone liked him. He was our fullback—a real plunger—and linebacker on defense.” In track he set a ninth grade shot put record in 1936 that stood for more than 20 years.

Injuries plagued Kuncel in high school, but both Pryor and Chuck Urbanic, then an assistant coach in football at LHS, called it “typical that he never talked about his illness.” He was like that in football. You would never know when he was banged up.” Urbanic once recalled, “Al played on two banged up knees, but he never missed a game where we needed him, and he was always ready when we asked for yardage.”

Kuncel stories seldom, if ever, came from him. They were anecdotes handed down by his classmates, his teammates and his coaches.

Pryor once admitted, “I was rough on him, but fair. As a sophomore, Al was playing against Cleveland Shaw and was having a rough time blocking their end. During halftime, I questioned Al about it and he said, ‘Coach, I just can’t handle that guy.’ Call it psychology, but I chewed him out. In the second half, that Shaw end was hardly ever standing. Al was only average size, but he had above average strength.” It was in his sophomore year that he played a key role as the Lavenders (as LHS sports teams were known as then) went undefeated (10-0-2) and won their first LEHI football championship in 1939. The ’39 team was enshrined in the LSHOF last year.

Even today, when a high school football game is being played on a blustery, cold, fall night at George Daniel Field, someone from that era will spot a modern day gridder and remark. “He reminds me of Al Kuncel.”

Kuncel earned three football Varsity “L’s” at Lorain High, but he also established his niche on the track team, winning three more varsity letters, his specialty being the shot put. But he also threw the discus. Unbeaten in the shot put during the spring of 1942, Kuncel had his finest hour in the state championship meet in Columbus by capturing the state title with a personal best toss of 48 feet 6 3/4 inches. He became Lorain’s first individual state champion in track since 1923 when Dick Sanford won the broad jump crown. Kuncel also won the shot put event in the prestigious Mansfield Relays.

A lifelong resident of Lorain, Kuncel served in the U.S. Army in World War II when he reached the rank of sergeant in the Army 202nd Combat Engineers. Following the war, he was employed at U.S. Steel’s Lorain Works in the protection department for 22 years until his death.

Kuncel and his wife, Martha, had three sons, Mark A., who also starred on the gridiron and competed in track as a shot putter and discus thrower (like his dad) at LHS, Daniel J. and Kurt, and three daughters, Ruth A., Christine E. and Martha Jane.