Tunch Ilkin was actually a Steelers broadcaster before he was even a broadcaster.
When I first came to Pittsburgh - and WTAE Radio - in 1991, the first Steelers player I met was Tunch. WTAE was the Steelers flagship station and Tunch was under contract to appear twice a week, the day after games Monday or Tuesday then again Friday to preview the upcoming game.
Coming from Boston, I knew who Tunch was – he was a Pro Bowl player, after all – yet I still thought it a bit unusual that a station would have a lineman as their “player.” But I’ll always remember my Program Director, Tom Clendenning, saying that they had identified Tunch as someone who could potentially replace Myron Cope when the time came.
Tunch left the Steelers after the 1992 season but after spending one year in Green Bay he retired and returned to Pittsburgh. Before too long he was working on the broadcasts where he stayed until stepping back this year to continue his fight against ALS.
Another thing I will always remember is that I would ask him about Huey Richardson, the 1991 first round draft pick who held out then didn’t exactly shine in training camp. Tunch, the player (who sometimes lined up opposite Richardson in practices), said all the right things to me when he was Richardson’s teammate. Then a few years later, when both were out of the NFL) I asked him when he could tell that Richardson wasn’t any good Tunch answered, “Jimmy we could tell he couldn’t play the first day.”
While Tunch wasn’t completely undersized by the standards of his time; still, playing tackle at 263 pounds he became a Pro Bowler by using proper technique. Even though he was never officially an assistant, Tunch was like having another coach on the field, whether it was at training camp or during the week mid-season. If you’ve spent any time at all at Saint Vincent College, you’ve seen it. My guess is you will continue to see it, Lord willing.
Tunch was an excellent football player, but I don’t know if he was ever on the cover of Sports Illustrated. You know who was? His wife!
Tunch’s (future) wife Sharon is the cheerleader on the left. But she didn’t date Larry Bird or even the quarterback; she dated, as Tunch put it, “a big, dumb, ugly offensive lineman.” Of course, Tunch is anything but dumb; he got the girl!
They came to Pittsburgh and never left, raising a family in Upper St. Clair. Sadly, Sharon passed away 9 years ago after a long, painful battle against cancer, yet Tunch has never lost his faith. Very few people have given as much of themselves as Tunch has to the Pittsburgh community and he will continue to do great work.
His voice will be missed on the Steelers broadcasts.