Ronald J. Pakutka

Ronald J. Pakutka, 85, passed away on October 15, 2025 at Good Shepherd Fairview Nursing Home in Binghamton, New York after seven months of acute illness. He is survived by his high school sweetheart and wife of 63 years, Mae (Prusch), his three sons, John (and Christine) of Branford, Connecticut; Stephen (and Estela) of Richmond, Virginia; and James of Vestal, New York; and his six beloved grandchildren: Stephen (Nico), Samuel (Sam), Noah, Ryan, Elaina and Isabella (Izzy). He was predeceased by his oldest son, Ronald Junior, who died as an infant in 1963.

Ron (aka "Ro") was born in Duryea, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1939 to first generation Americans, John and Bertha (Madrak) Pakutka. John was the child of immigrants from Lithuania, Bertha from Poland. John served as Duryea Town Constable, labored on a Works Progress Administration project during the Depression, and worked as an anthracite coal miner. When Ron was six years old, he suffered the devastating loss of his father to inoperable stomach cancer. Ron's mother took on work as a seamstress to support her three children. Thankfully, there were wellsprings of support: her local Holy Rosary Catholic Church and President Roosevelt's New Deal lifeline, the Social Security Widow's Pension.

Ron's life changed dramatically in the Spring of 1957. Always large for his age, he was then a strapping 18-year-old, 6'2" tall, 210-pound high school two-way football lineman. His yearbook photo inscription classified him simply as "one of the 11 on our team." An action shot showed him clad in a helmet without a facemask, blocking a defender. "On the field and in school he's on the beam" the yearbook poet playfully rhymed, "with his sayings and remarks that have no end, he has won himself many a friend."

That April a messenger summoned Ron to the high school Principal's office. Fearing he had been implicated in some sort of trouble, he rushed to the office. Principal Tom Kelly was also his football coach, and had various disciplinary tools at his disposal on and off the field in an era of corporal punishment. But instead of accusation came the life-changing moment. Mr. Kelly told his charge "The University of Notre Dame phoned me and offered you a four-year football scholarship." "Obviously," the proud coach declared, "I accepted on your behalf."

Ron recalled being "speechless, dizzy, shocked." Far from clear that this development was a welcome one. No one in his family-apart from his Uncle William (Father Bill) Pakutka, a Baltimore St. Mary's seminarian--had gone to college. On the rare occasions when Ron thought beyond high school and the confines of his small town, he imagined joining the Air Force. Serving his country as his many uncles and neighbors had in World War II. A life of football and scholarship was neither an aspiration nor even an imagined possibility. Suddenly it was a jarring reality. The school loudspeaker boomed the news. Ecstatic cheering erupted.

The Pittston Sunday Dispatch reported "Pakutka Given Scholarship to Notre Dame." It described him as "agile for his size," "an excellent student," and "one of the hardest workers on his team." Ron's good fortune was cause for great celebration, as another of the region's sons would be joining the ranks of champions that had played for Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy, who played for Rockne. Recently hired 26-year-old Coach Terry Brennan had played for Leahy, keeping the chain intact.

Two years earlier, when Notre Dame's Holy Cross fathers hired Brennan as football coach, they also reduced the number of football scholarships and increased standards of admission for players. New President Theodore Hesburgh, not yet 40 years old, intended to make Notre Dame into a school that rivaled the best academic institutions in the world and was not defined simply by its football prowess. One historical analyst quipped it was "So long, football factory, Hello, Rhodes Scholars." (Mae, by all accounts the more conscientious high school student, chuckled at this assessment, as she had "often completed Ro's homework for him.")

That August Father Bill and cousin Paul Pakutka drove Ron the thousand miles through Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana to Sound Bend. He recalled little of the conversation on the way, but never forgot his profound sadness and fear as he watched Father Bill's departing car fading East. He stood alone, football practice looming the next morning.

No longer was he the biggest, strongest guy on the field. Far from it. His freshman classmates included future NFL All-Pro's Myron Pottios and Joe Scibelli. Pottios captained the 1960 Fighting Irish and was selected in the NFL draft by his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers. Ron grimly recalled Coach Brennan's order to get into a boxing ring opposite of Pottios for some combat training: "the worst two minutes of my life."

Scibelli, a Massachusetts native and future Los Angeles Ram, was two inches shorter and forty pounds heavier than Ron. As the first practice wound down, the coaches ordered the team to the goal line for 100-yard wind sprints. Surveying the line, Ron cleverly thought it wise to run next to Scibelli, whom he thought of as "the fat guy." At the coach's whistle, Scibelli "shot off the starting line like a ball out of a cannon" and beat Ron to the finish "by 20 yards."

Then there were the Upperclassmen. Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung had graduated and been selected first in the NFL draft, but three quarters of his teammates remained. Ron and his freshmen teammates-not eligible for varsity-occasionally had the high honor of playing the role of "scout team" against the first stringers. The freshmen-impersonating that week's opponent-served dutifully. Never more so than prior to the varsity team's November 1957 trip to play Oklahoma, holders of the longest 20th Century college football winning streak at 47 games.

Dwindling numbers of Notre Dame fans remember the hard-fought 7-0 upset victory. Then it was news across the country, often on the front page of the Sunday papers. Father Hesburgh declared "a campus-wide holiday," promising "students could cut Monday classes with impunity." Ron recalled a celebratory parade honoring the returning heroes, the route running from the South Bend train station to campus. Notre Dame finished the 1957 season 7-3, the 9th ranked team in the country.

Ron's varsity football career ended abruptly the next August during a preseason scrimmage on Cartier Field, now the site of the Hesburgh Library and its "Touchdown Jesus" mural. Moved from offensive line to the unfamiliar position of linebacker, he failed to dodge a blocker who shot out violently and hit him below the knees. Ron's left ankle snapped from the force of the collision. He recalled landing on his back, and seeing the "contorted ankle swinging in the wind." Attendants stabilized Ron's fracture, while practice continued without interruption thirty yards away from the accident scene.

He awoke from surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital to find two men keeping vigil over him. One was a priest, George Bernard C.S.C., Notre Dame's Vice President of Student Affairs. "Father George," also Rector of Ron's Stanford Hall, would oversee his new scholarship work responsibilities: the sorting of mail. The other man holding vigil: assistant football coach Hank Stram. Twelve years later head coach Stram would lead his Kansas City Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl IV. The two men visited Ron regularly over the week of inpatient recuperation.

Ron was admittedly "not serious about rehabilitation" and a return to the field. He described the injury as "the happiest day of (his) life," freeing him from further football combat. (The ankle injury also kept him out of the Viet Nam War.)

The University honored Ron's four-year scholarship, despite his inability to contribute to the football program. He graduated in 1961 with an accounting degree. Then, he returned home and married Mae. They did stints in King of Prussia, Old Forge and Montoursville, Pennsylvania before moving to the Stair Tract of Vestal, New York in 1971.

Ron had a 37-year business career, most of it in the purchasing department of the Binghamton, NY-based concern that evolved from GAF to Anitec Imaging to International Paper. Prior to his retirement in 1998, Ron served as IP's Vice President of Purchasing for their Coated Papers Division. The work took him and Mae to destinations across America and Europe. They made many friends through work. The Pakutka family shares many fond memories of GAF Lake pancake breakfasts, clambakes and summer afternoons surrounded by friends.

In retirement, Ron attended mass weekly at St. Vincent DePaul Church, and sang for a few years in its choir. A self-described "thrifty" man born at the end of the Depression, he was forever in search of a bargain. He did the family grocery shopping, making weekly trips over the years to Grand Union, Loblaws, the "Giant," Price Chopper, Wegmans and Weis Market. He enjoyed annual trips with Mae to New York City at Christmastime, Myrtle Beach in the winter, Duryea family reunions in the summer and Notre Dame football games in the Fall. Ron and son Jim attended Watkins Glen races most summers.

Ron loved spending time with his grandkids and enjoyed watching "the old movies," particularly the war films that portrayed the Greatest Generation of World War II. He held in highest regard those veterans from whom so much had been demanded. A patriot, Ron was proud to "pay his taxes to support this great nation." He loved watching the Memorial Day and 4th of July celebrations on PBS, and did so from his hospital bed this past year.

A memorial is being planned for Saturday, November 22nd in Duryea, where Ron's remains will be placed in Saint John the Baptist Slovak Cemetery along side those of his son. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution in Ron's memory to the University of Notre Dame or St. Vincent De Paul Church in Vestal. (Don't hesitate to reach out to Mae with a memory or call of support. Emails via jpakutka@thecrescentgroup.com; calls to 607 217 7048.)