O’Korn was one of area’s best and most versatile athletes
George O’Korn
George O’Korn, a two-time state wrestling champion at Canon-McMillan, pins an opponent at the state tournament in Harrisburg.
George O'Korn follows his blockers during a Canon-McMillan football game durign the early 1970s.
Faith and family drive George O’Korn.
And they have taken him to places he could have only imagined as a young man and athlete growing up in Canon-McMillan School District.
The facts are impressive.
O’Korn was a two-time PIAA wrestling champion for the Big Macs. He won a WPIAL championship as well in 1972. He was a quarterback in football and a center fielder in baseball.
At Pitt, he twice qualified for the NCAA Championships in wrestling and was a two-year letterman for the Panthers’ football team as a quarterback, defensive back and special teams player. He was part of Pitt’s national championship football team in 1976.
He even made the Panthers’ baseball team as a fifth-year senior athlete but his attempt to play a third collegiate sport was thwarted by a thumb injury.
Clearly, he is one of Canon-McMillan’s greatest athletes and at the very least, one of the most versatile performers in his time at Pitt.
“I have been blessed,” said O’Korn, who resides in North Strabane Township with his wife, Dana, and two children, son Casey – a junior golfer at Washington & Jefferson College – and daughter Riley, a senior soccer player at Canon-McMillan.
O’Korn, a PIAA champion at 165 pounds in 1972 and again in 1973 at 167 pounds, is a State Farm Insurance agent based in Crafton. He finished with an 81-5 record for the Big Macs and was Western Conference Most Valuable Player, All-WPIAL, and honorable mention All-State as a quarterback in 1972.
He credits his brother, Frank O’Korn Jr., and Bob Schmidt, an assistant Big Macs wrestling coach, and football coach Ray Campanelli for being great mentors and influences.
“When I think back, I realize how much of a family affair it is – sports and athletics,” O’Korn said. “None of this would have ever been without my father, mother, and brother.
“My brother (Frank) coached me and he had a prototype to work from. He provided me a good vision. A lot of people have God-given talent and a lot of people work hard. What we found was a shared vision of how to be successful. I’m blessed to have had that with my parents and brother, and it helps me with my kids and family.
“It takes commitment, sacrifice and a general desire to help everybody on your team and those around you.”
While the facts reveal the story, they do not adequately tell it.
O’Korn is among the finest athletes ever from Washington County. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame earlier this year.
The road to excellence was bumpy. He overcame obstacles and difficult losses – on and off the playing fields and wrestling mat – and he had to look inside himself to find his special talents that led to success.
“What George represents is the combination of things our father (Frank Sr.) set up in developing a plan that was going to help him become the best wrestler he could be,” said George’s brother, Frank. “To better understand that, he simply wanted to give George as much exposure to the sport as he could and headed that as George won six Junior Olympic championships.
“My dad was part of every opportunity for George. My dad wasn’t interested in any glory but just to give George the opportunity to get an education. That was his focus and desire for George.”
O’Korn was the first two-time state wrestling champion from Canon-McMillan. He fulfilled his father’s dream of getting an education through wrestling by working hard and believing in being as good as he could be.
He was recruited by Penn State and Notre Dame, among a host of others, but he settled on Pitt – close to his mom, Mildred.
Legendary Notre Dame Coach Ara Parseghian tried to urge him to play for the Fighting Irish as a defensive back.
“Can you imagine a kid named O’Korn, playing for Notre Dame?” said Frank O’Korn, who also enjoyed a fine wrestling career at Pitt.
George O’Korn’s passion for competition is what drove him during his high school and collegiate days.
“My dad coached me from Little League,” George O’Korn said. “He was ever-present in my life. My family made a full-time commitment to me and I could never repay them enough. Some people who are so helpful and supportive along the way don’t receive the accolades but they play such a big part. They are just as important.
“I loved playing football. I loved wrestling and I loved baseball. I even liked playing basketball, and after junior high school I had to make a decision. I played basketball because I felt it made me faster and quicker. I just loved competing. I really didn’t have a favorite. It was about the competition. Today, it’s golf. Nobody asks me to wrestle or play football or baseball anymore. But they do ask me to golf.
“I had two pretty painful experiences in the WPIAL wrestling tournament. And that’s when you understand you have to overcome and push forward.”
As celebrated as O’Korn was as an athlete, he was defined through defeat and hardship.
At a dual meet at Latrobe, O’Korn knew his father was suffering from illness in the stands. His brother, Frank, was not aware and when he sent George onto the mat for a much-needed victory that would enable the Big Macs to win, he was unaware of what his younger brother knew.
Coach O’Korn moved his brother up a weight class to help the team win. George O’Korn fell behind, 7-0.
“Nobody ever beat George like that,” Frank O’Korn said. “I was not aware my dad was having a heart attack in the stands.
“George was getting beat up and looked bad.We lost our father to a heart attack. I know I was on George pretty good for his performance.
The younger O’Korn ended up winning that bout and as he left the mat, walked past his brother saying, “That’s all you care about. Your dad is sick.”
Finally, Coach O’Korn came to understand and appreciated his brother’s ability to deal with his stricken father and an opponent all at once.
“He always rose to the occasion,” Frank O’Korn said.
While that was an emotional and difficult day, O’Korn suffered two stunning losses in the WPIAL tournament in 1971 and 1973.
As a sophomore, he built a huge lead in the semifinals, got careless and was pinned, eliminating him from the postseason.
Instead of wallowing in disappointment, O’Korn returned as a junior to win both a WPIAL championship and a state gold medal.
He and the Big Macs entered the 1973 WPIAL tournament at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House among the favorites. O’Korn advanced to the finals but Canon-McMillan’s WPIAL team championship hopes were dashed in the semifinals and it impacted O’Korn’s focus and energy. Before the WPIAL instituted the team tournament to determine its champion, the winning team was based on points scored in the WPIAL individual tournament.
O’Korn suffered a convincing defeat to Burgettstown’s Bill Bertrand, who controlled the bout and left O’Korn disheartened at the middle of the mat. The huge crowd was stunned.
“We knew he was good,” George O’Korn said. “He hated me and was so focused. I could not match his urgency. My focus wasn’t anywhere near it needed to be.
“We felt we had a chance to win the team title. I knew we weren’t going to win. Me wrestling was anticlimactic. I wasn’t as dedicated to winning. He was ready. As a team it was a goal we could not complete. Losing there was pretty tough. It didn’t hit me right away. The first couple days of practice I was tired and worn out and otherwise disinterested.”
“George wrestled like he didn’t care,” Frank O’Korn said. “We got beat up in the (semis) and in some ways he lost in-terest. And Bertrand was ready for him.”
O’Korn still had a chance at redemption but, according to his brother, and a friend, Ray Dallatore – a state champion from Trinity High School in 1972, and others, the start of the week leading up to the PIAA Championships at Harrisburg’s Farm Show Arena, O’Korn was listless and unfocused.
“We couldn’t get him to do much,” Frank O’Korn said. “(Pitt assistant football Coach) Jackie Sherrill showed up and saw it and said someone should just take him on the mat and beat his (butt). So that’s what Schmidt did. George finally responded to that.”
Renewed with spirit and enthusiasm, George O’Korn won rather easily in the PIAA quarterfinals, building a big lead and settling for a decision victory. He then defeated vaunted Mike McCabe, who he defeated the previous year in the finals, in the semifinals and then pinned his way to a second state championship.
“What George did was pave the way for what Canon-McMillan wrestling has become,” Frank O’Korn said. “I think that comeback really impressed Sherrill. He loved George’s will and determination.”
John Sacco writes a bi-weekly column about local sports history.