Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/110553
Under the Dome Mirko Jurkovic: 1970-2013 Former Notre Dame offensive right guard and 1991 consensus All-American Mirko Jurkovic lost his 28-month battle with cancer and died Jan. 9. He was 42. The popular Jurkovic was featured in the Oct. 8, 2012, edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated. A first-generation American whose parents were Croatian immigrants, Jurkovic chose Notre Dame over Michigan while starring at Chicago's Thornton Fractional. During his freshman year in 1988, Jurkovic was a top reserve along the defensive front. He played in all 12 games for the national champs, with his longest stints of eight minutes apiece coming in victories against No. 1 Miami (31-30) and No. 2 USC (27-10). Jurkovic was shifted to the offense the following spring to groom behind senior guard Tim Grunhard. In 1990-91, Jurkovic was the starting right guard and earned consensus All-America notice his senior year. During Jurkovic's four seasons, the Fighting Irish posted an 11-4 record against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10 at the time of the game — including 7-2 versus the top three. His final game was a 39-28 defeat of No. 3 Florida in the Sugar Bowl in which the offensive line and fullback Jerome Bettis took over to the tune of 245 yards rushing in the second half. He worked since 1999 with Stryker, one of the world's leading medical technology companies, and in 2003, the affable Jurkovic was asked by Notre Dame to team with former running back Reggie Brooks (1989-92) to help host the university's postgame radio show. He continued in that capacity through this year in the weeks where he didn't have chemotherapy, and served as the color analyst for Don Criqui of the IMG Network for the Sept. 8 Purdue game. "I've often said that life after football is much easier than football, because you go to Notre Jurkovic served as Notre Dame's starting right guard in 1990-91 and earned consensus AllAmerica accolades as a senior. photo courtesy notre dame media relations Dame to get prepared for life," said Jurkovic, whose NFL career at Chicago was cut short with knee problems. Jurkovic is survived by his wife of 19 years, Angi, and their three children, Mirko Jr., Claire and Samantha. His brother John, played in the NFL for 10 years and is a co-host of "The Carmen, Jurko & Harry Show" on ESPN 1000. Jurkovic is the seventh deceased player from the 1988 national champs. The others are defensive back Bob Satterfield, defensive lineman Jeff Alm, running backs Rodney Culver and Kenny Spears, outside linebacker Andre Jones (father of current Notre Dame receiver TJ Jones) and offensive tackle Dean Brown, who passed away in November.