Battling ALS, a class act, former Steeler tackle “Tunch Ilkin announces retirement from Steelers broadcast duties” after 23 years — and playing in the NFL for 13
Tunch Ilkin played offensive tackle for the Steelers for 12 years
… was a great color man for Steelers radio
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS] can be such a debilitating disease, and former Pittsburgh Steeler offensive tackle has tackled that disease since last year.
Last week, the former athlete turned broadcaster announced that he was giving up his long-time duties as the color man for the Steeler radio broadcasts. He had team with super play-by-play man Bill Hillgrove and his former teammate Craig Wolfley to make up a great radio team.
How good were they? I often would turn off the volume on the national TV broadcasts and listen to them describe the game, even though a time-lapse made it a little different than the actual TV show.
Did not want a retirement announcement
Ilkin said goodbye last week without really wanting to do so,
Standing on a balcony overlooking the practice fields at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Tunch Ilkin watched the Pittsburgh Steelers go through organized team activities Thursday morning.
Flanked by a group that included his wife, Karen; best friend, teammate and broadcast partner Craig Wolfley; team president Art Rooney II and general manager Kevin Colbert, Ilkin posed for a few photos after watching some of the workout unfold below.
Spying friends in the media standing about 50 feet away, Ilkin made his way over and exchanged hugs and pats on the back with each individual — some of whom he knew well, others he had never met. Ilkin said nothing, letting his firm handshake speak for the way he has continued to fight against the onset of ALS.
It was as close to a retirement press conference as Ilkin, 63, would permit on the day he announced he was stepping away from the Steelers broadcast booth after 23 seasons to focus on his fight against the debilitating disease that attacks the nervous system.
Joe Rutter, “Tunch Ilkin announces retirement from Steelers
broadcast duties,” Tribune-Review, June 3, 2021
Background
Ilkin started in the broadcast booth just five years after retiring from the Steelers. He joined Hillgrove and the late Myron Cope in the booth, and he then took the color job in 2004 after Cope retired.
The first Turkish player to play in the NFL, Ilkin was a sixth-round pick by Steeler Coach Chuck Noll, who he idolized. He was named to the Pro Bowl as an offensive tackle,
The decision for Ilkin to retire from broadcasting came four decades after he was selected by the Steelers as a sixth-round draft pick. He spent the next 13 seasons wearing the black and gold while mostly manning the right tackle spot, and he was named to the Pro Bowl two times in the late ’80s. He also is a member of the franchise’s all-time team.
The first NFL player of Turkish descent, Ilkin retired from football in 1993 and returned to the Steelers five years later to join a broadcast booth that included Bill Hillgrove and Myron Cope. When Cope retired after the 2004 season, Ilkin became the primary color analyst.
“It will be a whole different world,” Hillgrove said. “That many years with Tunch in the booth, they just don’t go away easily or quickly or happily. He had a great perspective for the game that you can’t replace. Mostly, I’ll miss his humanity. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever been around.”
Joe Rutter, June 3, 2021
He never lost his love for the team or its players.
Always a Steeler
What Tunch provided was a key insight to the players and to the strategy of the team. No one knows this better than Wolfley,
“I’m probably handling it tougher than he is,” said Wolfley, who like Ilkin joined the Steelers in 1980. “He is such a strong man. He always has been such a determined guy, unflinching in whatever it is he is facing. He still maintains that, continues that. He’s the greatest gift of a brother you can hope for” …
“There will be a huge void,” Wolfley said. “Think about it. He’s been broadcasting for 23, 24 years, and we’ve been together for 20 of those. He was the whole reason I got in this business.”
Sideline reporters were becoming fashionable near the turn of the century, and Ilkin thought Wolfley would be the perfect fit for that role with the Steelers.
“He’d come by my gym and say, ‘Come on, you’ve got to try this. We need someone on the sideline,’ ” said Wolfley, who joined the crew in 2002. “Next thing you know, here we are.”
Ilkin was a regular at the team facility, observing practices on a consistent basis, taking notes and comparing his thoughts with Wolfley. Ilkin also would be quick to offer advice and counsel to the Steelers offensive linemen.
Joe Rutter, Tribune-Review, June 3, 2021
Now, focus on the disease
Ilkin said that he wants to focus on his recovery,
I want to spend this time focusing on my treatment and fighting this disease. I would like to thank Steelers president Art Rooney II, the Steelers organization and the fans for their continued support and prayers at this time.
Joe Rutter, Tribune-Review, June 3, 2021
Ilkin has known difficult times in his life. In 2012, his wife, Sharon, the mother of their three children, passed away from breast cancer.
He since remarried, but his faith is at the root of his battle against the debilitating disease,
Since his diagnosis, Ilkin has worked out two days a week on an underwater treadmill at Adventures in Training with a Purpose, a Christian nonprofit facility located in Wexford. It is run by former Steelers tackle Jon Kolb, a four-time Super Bowl champion in the 1970s who is the director of physical training at ATP.
“His spirits are awesome,” Kolb said Thursday after overseeing another of Ilkin’s sessions. “Sometimes we’re with him, and he’ll be with his wife or old teammates and we want to be around him to lift him up. But he lifts us up.”
In addition to his broadcast duties, Ilkin became immersed in his church. Ilkin is a pastor of men’s ministry at The Bible Chapel in McMurray. He also is deeply involved in the Light of Life Rescue Mission on the North Side.
Along with Kolb and several other friends from the NFL or his bible study group, Ilkin embarks on an hour-long prayer walk every Wednesday morning through the streets of Mt. Washington, where he and Karen reside. Such walks will continue in retirement.
“He’ll deal with things that God puts in his path,” Wolfley said. “He’s not going to stop being Tunch. He can’t do that. He’s just too purposed for that.”
Joe Rutter, Tribune-Review, June 2, 2021
Tunch has been such a class act in everything that he has done, as a player, as a broadcaster, and as a human being.
It makes you wonder “Why bad things happen to good people.”
Something that we will never understand.
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