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 Sitko on a 1950 Bowman football card | |||||||||||||
| No. 82, 24 | |||||||||||||
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| Positions | Halfback Fullback | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1923-09-07)September 7, 1923 Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died | December 15, 1973(1973-12-15) (aged 50) Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 183 lb (83 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Central (IN) | ||||||||||||
| College | Notre Dame | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1946: 1st round, 10th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Emil Martin "Red" Sitko (September 7, 1923 – December 15, 1973) was an American professionalfootball player.
Born inFort Wayne, Indiana on September 7, 1923. He was of Polish descent.[1] He earned the nickname of "Red" due to his red hair. He attended Central High School in Fort Wayne. At only 5'8" and 180 pounds he was not considered a big man. "Emil wasn't very big as football players go -- even for those days", Irish coachFrank Leahy once said. "But he was the fastest starting back I ever coached."
Emil Sitko served in a military capacity during World War II and did not enter directly into college. While in the military, Sitko made a name for himself on theGreat Lakes Navy football team, where, in 1943, he scored a touchdown and had an interception against a previously undefeatedNotre Dame team.[2] Upon coming out of service in World War II, he enrolled atNotre Dame as a 23-year-old freshman. He was astarter on the football team three years at right half and one year at fullback from 1946 to 1949. In those four years the Notre Dame record was 36–0–2. Besides his nickname of "Red", he was known in football as "Six- Yard Sitko." He led his team in rushing all four years and his career average was 6.1 yards a try. In 1949, he also led the team in kickoff returns, averaging 22 yards. He made theAll-America teams of theSporting News and theFootball Writers Association of America in 1948 and was unanimous All-America in 1949. Emil also finished eighth in the 1949Heisman Trophy voting behind teammateLeon Hart. Sitko still stands seventh on Notre Dame's career rushing charts.[3]
Sitko played three seasons in the NFL for theSan Francisco 49ers and theChicago Cardinals before retiring and returning to his hometown to work in the auto sales business. He died in 1973, at age 50, after a heart attack. He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1984 andNational Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
Red’s Run. News-Sentinel. FortWayne.com
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