Peter Nicholas Duranko[2] (December 15, 1943 – July 8, 2011) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Denver Broncos of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Duranko was an All-American and a member of Notre Dame's 1966 national champion team. He was selected by the Broncos in the 1966 AFL draft and was also chosen by the Cleveland Browns in the NFL draft. He played in 98 games for Denver in an eight-year career from 1967 through 1974. After sitting out the 1975 season due to injury, he was one of the first free agent signings of the NFL's expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 27, 1976, however, he did not make the roster and was released by the Buccaneers on July 18, 1976, before the franchise played its first preseason game.[3]
| No. 55 | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Defensive end |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | December 15, 1943 Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died: | July 8, 2011 (aged 67) Windber, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight: | 250 lb (113 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College: | Notre Dame |
| NFL draft: | 1966 / round: 4 / pick: 61 |
| AFL draft: | 1966 / round: Red Shirt 2 / pick: 12 (by the Denver Broncos)[1] |
| Career history | |
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Stats at Pro Football Reference | |
At Bishop McCort High School, he played football, ran track, and was a shot putter. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania State Hall of Fame.[4]
Duranko earned a Master's degree from St. Francis University of Loretto, Pennsylvania. After his playing days, he became a steel company executive. Duranko died in 2011 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which he had had since 2000. Postmortem research showed that Duranko had developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy.[5] He was one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with this disease, which is caused by repeated hits to the head.[6][7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "1966 AFL Draft". Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
- ^ "Pete Duranko profile" pro-football-reference.com August 14, 2011
- ^ "Pete Duranko search" Pro Sports Transactions https://www.prosportstransactions.com/football/Search/SearchResults.php?Player=duranko "Pete Duranko search" Pro Sports Transactions. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Johnstown native Pete Duranko dies". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Associated Press. July 11, 2011. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
- ^ "110 N.F.L. Brains". New York Times. July 25, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^ "The driving force behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)". Concussion Legacy Foundation. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ Ken Belson and Benjamin Mueller (June 20, 2023). "Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E. The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2023.