Joseph Truskowski

{{Short description|American football, basketball and baseball player and coach}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Joseph Truskowski

| image = Joseph Truskowski.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Truskowski, captain of 1929 Michigan football team

| birth_date = {{Circa|1906}}

| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.

| death_date = July 1959

| death_place = Lion's Head, Ontario, Canada

| alma_mater =

| player_sport1 = Football

| player_years2 = 1926

| player_team2 = Michigan

| player_years3 = 1928–1929

| player_team3 = Michigan

| player_sport4 = Basketball

| player_years5 = 1926–1927

| player_team5 = Michigan

| player_years6 = 1928–1930

| player_team6 = Michigan

| player_positions = End (football)
Forward (basketball)

| coach_sport1 = Football

| coach_years2 = 1930–1931

| coach_team2 = Olivet

| coach_years3 = 1932–?

| coach_team3 = Iowa State (assistant)

| coach_years4 = 1937–?

| coach_team4 = Wayne State (MI) (assistant)

| coach_sport5 = Baseball

| coach_years6 = 1936–1937

| coach_team6 = Iowa State

| coach_years7 = 1941

| coach_team7 = Wayne State (MI)

| coach_years8 = 1946–1959

| coach_team8 = Wayne State (MI)

| overall_record = 8–7–1 (football)
115–133–1 (baseball)

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships = Baseball
1 PAC (1959)

| awards = Second-team All-Big Ten (1929)

| coaching_records =

}}

Joseph E. "Truck" Truskowski ({{Circa|1906}} – July 1959) was an American football, basketball and baseball player and coach. He played college football, basketball and baseball at the University of Michigan. He later served as the head baseball coach at Iowa State from 1936 to 1937 and at Wayne State in 1941 and from 1946 to 1959.

Early years

Truskowski was born in Detroit in approximately 1906. He attended Detroit's Northwestern High School where he was a star athlete from 1923 to 1925.{{cite news|title=Falcon Pilot Tops Scorers|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=March 9, 1925|page=19|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38322135/falcon_pilot_tops_scorers/|via=Newspapers.com}}

Athletic career

Truskowski played three years each at the end position for the Michigan football team and as a forward for the Michigan basketball team.{{cite web|title=1926 Football Team Roster|publisher=University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library|url=http://141.211.39.65/allroster/FMPro?-DB=allrost.fp5&-Format=fbresult.htm&-SortField=name&-SortOrder=Ascend&year=1926&-max=170&-Find|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529062326/http://141.211.39.65/allroster/FMPro?-DB=allrost.fp5&-Format=fbresult.htm&-SortField=name&-SortOrder=Ascend&year=1926&-max=170&-Find|archivedate=May 29, 2011}}{{cite web|title=1928 Football Team|publisher=University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library|url=https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1928fbt.htm}} At the end of the 1928 season, he was selected as the captain of the 1929 Michigan Wolverines football team.{{cite web|title=1929 Football Team|publisher=University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library|url=https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1929fbt.htm}}{{cite news|title=Joe Truskowski, of Detroit, Is Elected Captain of Michigan for Next Year|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=November 28, 1928|page=19|url=https://freep.newspapers.com/clip/3676064/joe_truskowski_of_detroit_is_elected/}}{{cite news|title=Joe Truskowski, of Detroit, Is Elected Captain of Michigan for Next Year (part 2)|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=November 28, 1928|page=21|url=https://freep.newspapers.com/clip/3676079/star_flanker_teams_pilot/}} As a senior captain in 1929, he started games at three positions -- left end, quarterback, and right halfback.{{cite news|title=Michigan Repulses Penn State, 32 to 11; Truskowski Leads Attack That Turns Back Easterners--Losers Trail at Half, 17-3|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 2, 1929|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D16F83B55167A93C0A9178AD85F4D8285F9}}{{cite news|title=Big Ten Grid Stars Keen for Basketball|newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune|date=January 31, 1930|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UJUcAAAAIBAJ&pg=1366,2482234&dq=truskowski+michigan&hl=en}}

In basketball, Truskowski was a starting forward on the 1928–29 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team that won the Big Ten championship. He was also the leading scorer on the 1929–30 team with 113 points in 14 games.{{cite web|title=University of Michigan Basketball Record Book|publisher=University of Michigan|page=25|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/bkm-through-the-years.pdf|access-date=2019-11-02|archive-date=2018-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226133821/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/bkm-through-the-years.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Truskowski also played as a catcher for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team and was the third player in Michigan history (after Harry Kipke and Bennie Oosterbaan) to win three varsity letter in the same academic year.{{cite news|title=Joe Truskowski Proves To Be Another Iron Man|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=April 28, 1929|page=18|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38319452/joe_truskowski_proves_to_be_another/|via=Newspapers.com}} In all, Truskowski won a total of eight varsity letters at Michigan. While a student at Michigan, he joined Theta Kappa Nu fraternity."Lead Their Teams" The Theta News. October 1929.

Coaching career

Following his collegiate athletic career, Truskowski worked as a coach. He was the head football coach at Olivet College in 1931. He was hired assistant football coach at Iowa State University in March 1932.{{cite news|title=Truskowski Takes Position at Iowa|newspaper=Ludington Daily News|date=March 29, 1932|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bFscAAAAIBAJ&pg=5886,2969323&dq=truskowski+olivet&hl=en}}{{cite news|title=Joe Truskowski Joins Ames Football Staff|newspaper=The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette and Republican|date=March 29, 1932|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38322703/joe_truskowski_joins_ames_football_staff/|via=Newspapers.com}} He was also the head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones baseball team from 1935 to 1937.{{cite web|title=Diamond Reflections: List of Coaches|publisher=Iowa State University Library|url=http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/exhibits/baseball/coaches_list.htm|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320073811/http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/exhibits/baseball/coaches_list.htm|archivedate=March 20, 2012}} Truskowski led Iowa State's baseball team to consecutive Big Six championships in 1935 and 1936.Iowa State University - Bomb Yearbook, Class of 1936, page 260.

In 1937, Truskowski left Iowa State to become an assistant football coach and head basketball coach at Wayne State University.{{cite news|title=Truskowski Quits Iowa State to Join Joe Gembis at Wayne|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=August 16, 1937|page=11|url=https://freep.newspapers.com/clip/3676114/truskowski_quits_iowa_state/}} Truskowski joined the Navy in 1942 and returned to Wayne State in 1945.{{cite news|title=Truskowski Come Back|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=September 23, 1945|page=16|url=https://freep.newspapers.com/clip/3676148/truskowski_comes_back/}} He also served as the head baseball coach at Wayne State in 1941 and again from 1946 to 1959.

Truskowski changed his name to Joe Truske. He died from a heart attack at his summer home in Lion's Head, Ontario, in July 1959.{{cite news|title=City Mourns Wayne's Joe Truske|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=July 4, 1959|page=15|url=https://freep.newspapers.com/clip/3676188/city_mourns_waynes_joe_truske/}}