By Vinny Porco

On Wednesday, August 27th, my favorite U of L football player passed away.

My grandfather, Kenneth John Porco, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Feb. 1, 1938. Statistically, he was going to be a steelworker.

But from an early age, it was apparent that he had a physical gift and a love for athletics that knew no bounds, a set of traits he would build his life around.

He played football and other sports at Pittsburgh’s Central Catholic High School in the mid-1950s, eventually garnering attention from U of L’s head football coach Frank Camp, who had recruited Pittsburgh-native Johnny Unitas just a few years before.

His decision to start at U of L in the fall of 1956 is one that planted him in the city of Louisville. It’s a move that started a life here, and a family that keeps growing every year. It’s a thing of legend.

His most successful year with the Cardinals came in his sophomore year in 1957. Coach Camp and star running back Lenny Lyles led the team to a 9-1 record, as well as the school’s first bowl game.

That bowl game is another thing of legend. The Sun Bowl was played in El Paso, Texas, on New Year’s Day of 1958. 

Louisville fullback Ken Porco walks off the field after a 34-20 1958 Sun Bowl victory. (Photo provided by family)

He took a plane, which was notable enough for him to tell me about it. The Drake Bulldogs, the opposing team, sat through a train ride that lasted several days.

It’s at this point in the story that I pause and imagine what it’s like to be a poor nineteen year old kid who’s the first to receive a college education in the history of his family. Not only that, but he had somehow made his way to El Paso. The day before his death, I joked to my uncle in the hospital room that he was the first Italian to go that far south since Christopher Columbus.

And to compound the pressure, the great Lenny Lyles got injured on the first play of the game. Porco was next up. And what did he do? He rose to the occasion. Ken Porco rushed twenty times for 119 yards and a touchdown, winning the game’s MVP award. A full video of the game can be found here.

My grandfather didn’t slow down after that. He went on to be a strong leader for the Cardinals, and even broke off a 93-yard rush against EKU the following year that is still a record to this day.

He also notably lettered in track and baseball during his time at U of L. He even punted and threw two passing touchdowns during his football career. 

Afterwards, his odyssey took him even further north than from where he came. He went to play for the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL, which unfortunately ended with a devastating knee injury.

The jack of all trades wasn’t done athletically, however, as he went on to win the 1971 racquetball open doubles national championship later in life. His ventures in racket sports such as racquetball, squash and tennis were a product of his career trajectory.

My grandfather parlayed his athletic prowess and amiable personality into a career as Athletic Director of the Jewish Community Center and Downtown Athletic Club. It’s through this career he was able to establish a family in Louisville with his high school sweetheart, my grandmother Dororthy Jean (White).

Four children, nine grandchildren and two (soon to be three) great-grandchildren later, I write to remember him as the second generation of three to only know Louisville as home.

And I remember him now more as a family man than as an athlete. I was born in 2005. I wasn’t there for the running and jumping. But I was there to witness the pride and joy that his own Louisville leg of the Porco family brought.

He was a great man, and we love him very much. Just minutes after he passed, my uncle remarked that Ken Porco was the kindest man he’d ever met. I couldn’t agree more. No Thanksgiving was complete without an acknowledgement of family from the old patriarch, and no Christmas was complete without the recognition of another wonderful year.

And now that he’s passed, I wonder how to do him justice. He’s gone, and yet he’s everywhere. 

I stood on the sideline taking photos last Saturday as Caullin Lacy ran back a 93-yard punt return against EKU. He returned the same amount of yards against the same team that my grandfather had set the rushing record against nearly 70 years earlier. I couldn’t help but think of him.

I couldn’t help but smile knowing that the last U of L football game he ever watched was the Cardinals’ return to the Sun Bowl, the MVP of which went to Harrison Bailey for stepping up to fill the hole his teammates left.

I couldn’t help but remember a Louisville football legend, and a wonderful grandfather.

Visitation, September 23 from 8:30 am – 10:00 am Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

Funeral, September 23 at 10:00 am at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

Photo courtesy, Porco family