Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1985
- Class:
- 1942
Recruited to Marshall by Coach Cam Henderson out of Farmington, W.Va., in Marion County, Frank “Gunner” Gatski went on to a storied football career that included eight professional championships and enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A center and linebacker in 1940, Gatski as a freshman helped the Marshall squad to an 8-2 record and paved the way for halfback Jackie Hunt to set an NCAA record with 27 touchdowns as the team led the nation in scoring with an average of 33.4 points per game. As a sophomore the following season, Gatski, Hunt and company helped Marshall to a 7-1 mark that included a 16-6 upset win over Wake Forest.
Gatski then enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in World War II, where he was part of a unit that followed the initial surge in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and took part in other operations in the European theater. Marshall had ceased playing football during the war and had not yet reinstated the sport when Gatski returned to America, so he finished his studies and playing career at Auburn, but always claimed Marshall as his true alma mater.
After graduating from Auburn, Gatski returned to Marion County and began working in the coal mines, but his former teammate and then-Marshall assistant Sam Clagg arranged for him to try out for the Cleveland Browns, a new team in the fledgling All-American Football Conference. Gatski helped the Browns to four straight league championships, including a perfect 14-0 record in 1948, and then to three more championships when the Browns became a part of the NFL in 1950. When Gatski asked for a raise after the 1955 season, the Browns traded him to the Detroit Lions in 1956 and he led his new team to a 59-14 championship game victory over the Browns. In all, Gatski’s 11 championship game appearances and eight titles are the most by anyone other than kickers in pro football history. After retiring as a player, Gatski was a scout for the Boston Patriots and spent several seasons as athletic director and football coach of the Boys Reform School in Pruntytown, W.Va.
Gatski, who was said never to have missed a practice at the high school, college or pro level, was a first team All-Pro in 1952, 1953 and 1955, and played in the 1956 Pro Bowl. He was named the starting center on the Pro Football Reference All-Decade Team for the 1950s. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1985. His uniform number 75 is the only Marshall football jersey to be retired, and the east end Huntington bridge over the Ohio River is named in his honor. Gatski was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1974 and Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985.
