Great story, Streets. Thank you for sharing.
I remember Dick Enberg, on play-by-play for NBC, mentioning that Tunch was the
1st-Turkish-born player in the league.
I loved hearing and seeing he and Wolf together. Their brotherly love was so
apparent and heartwarming.
He didn’t preach his faith. He LIVED it.
Rest In Power, Tunch.
Thanks,
Sudesh
On Sep 5, 2021, at 12:01 AM, Streetr <stlrmn1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I may have told this story before, but for those that may have missed it and
in honor of Tunch Ilkin, here goes:
It was Friday, December 11th, 1987 and the Steelers were in town to play the
Chargers. We decided to head down to Mission Valley to see the Steelers do a
walk through practice at the practice field that used to be adjacent to Jack
Murphy Stadium.
We were able to get onto the field and I remember even being able to shag a
wayward ball and throw it back to Mark Malone. Great afternoon, and we
didn't want it to stop, so we decided to follow the team buses back to their
hotel, which that year was on Mission Bay, I want to say it was the Bahia but
that's a bit foggy.
Anyway, we park and decide to go into the hotel bar to see if maybe we can
meet some players. We hang out for a while and sure enough, some players
start coming down to the bar and it wasn't long before Tunch and Wolf bellied
up to one of the bars, and I just happened to be at the bar they chose so I
introduced my late 20-something self and my buddy that was with me and ask
them for their autographs (what the heck for I don't know, I don't even have
them anymore and that was before cell phones).
They oblige us, and then Tunch says something to Wolf, like on the side and
we can't hear, and he points across to the restaurant side of the
establishment and Wolf stands up from his stool to look, and nods his head
"yes" to Tunch.
So, then Tunch says, "hey guys, if you want a GREAT autograph, Tony Dungy,
our DC is right over there in the restaurant, you guys should catch him
before he leaves!" And then Wolf adds in, "yeah, NOBODY loves giving
autographs to fans more than Coach Dungy!"
So, we eagerly run off over to the restaurant and roll in there and go right
up to Tony Dungy's table where he's eating dinner with his wife and say "Hi
Coach Dungy, big fans, wou...." and Dungy looks at me like he's going to KILL
me, stands up and YELLS at me to please leave him alone, who told us that he
was there, etc.....he was PISSED!
I'm standing there shocked and look back to the bar and Tunch and Wolf are
laughing so hard that they can barely stay on their barstools. Dungy sees me
looking at them and realizes what happened and then he tells me that he's
sorry to have yelled, but that those "2 idiots" pull this on him all the time
because they know he doesn't like to be interrupted while eating.
Anyway, I'll never forget that, they were cool as hell and even bought us a
couple of rounds as we laughed about it afterwards. People usually thought
Wolf was the instigator, but Tunch was pretty devious himself.
I called into a talk show that they were both on back in like 2003 or 2004
and told them the story, and Wolf didn't remember it or us but Tunch claimed
he remembered that Friday in San Diego in 1987.
Good guys won 20-16, both teams had players named Gary Anderson that scored
points. I also met Anderson, Chuck Noll and quite a few others that day and
evening, still was a pretty formidable roster:
RIP Tunch Ilkin, God bless all who loved and will miss him.
Streetr