Yes It Is, It’s True: Albion College coach a class act

I read the news this week about the death of longtime Albion College football coach and athletic director Frank Joranko. My memories of him are fond because he truly was a decent and honorable man.

My favorite memory took me back to the fall of 1976, when he was coach of a Britons’ football team that went 9-0, but because the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association was operating on a horse and buggy policy, it could not compete in the post-season tournament.

When the season ended, I was presented on the UPI wire a notice that the all-MIAA football team could not be published until Friday afternoon. It was embargoed everywhere else until after the Detroit Free Press could report on it first.

I was appalled by such a policy because small daily newspapers such as the Albion Evening Recorder, the Mount Pleasant Sun, the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Holland Sentinel had faithfully covered the teams in their regions every week while the Free Press only published small articles given to them by wire services.

I was so perturbed that I called Joranko at his home to lodge a complaint. He promptly gave me all the data necessary for a story the next day and told me he agreed with my position 100 percent. He and I both, therefore, were guilty of violating MIAA policy by having the all-league football squad published the day before the Detroit Free Press.

I certainly fielded complaints from the league’s information director, as I am sure did Frank. But we made our point that local media, the one that actually cares most, should be given first shot, if not the same opportunity, to publish such information. And I don’t recall that policy being implemented afterward.

An extension of that football season was the realization that the MIAA policy was not just old-fashioned, but also unfair. The league’s seven presidents had failed to overturn an old rule that disallowed teams from competing in NCAA Division III post-season tournaments. The most recent vote was 4-3, but five of the seven votes was needed for reversal.

Albion College historically had voted with the three schools opposed to tourney participation. But President Bernard T. Lomas the following spring changed his vote to make it 5-2 to let the boys and girls play.

The biggest reason was the success of Frank’s undefeated team in 1976, but I also published an investigative report showing the Kalamazoo College national championship trophy for tennis. The Hornets sent four individual players to the nationals, which was legal under the rules, and it just so happened they scored enough points to win the team title.

Outraged, I asked old pal Jon Gambee to take a photo of the trophy in K-College’s trophy case and demanded the hardware be returned to the NCAA because MIAA policy had prohibited team participation.

President Lomas the following spring switched his vote and Frank’s Briton football team the following November became the first MIAA team to compete legally in the post-season. Even better, Albion’s basketball team and coach Mike Turner finished third in the nation in March 1978.

Frank was very careful about choosing his successor as football coach, finally settling on Pete Schmidt, who led the Britons to a national title in 1994. Hopkins’ Kris Knobloch played for Schmidt, but just missed the joy of a national title by one year.

In an era of rampant cheating and toxic masculinity in athletics, Joranko was an island of integrity and decency in a sea of trouble and hubris.

So I send my wishes for him to rest in peace with a great deal of appreciation.