Old Forge native and former National Football League coach John Petercuskie died April 20 in Centerville, Mass.
He was 93.
The 1942 Old Forge graduate served as a Marine in the South Pacific during World War II. Following the war, he returned to Pennsylvania and enrolled at East Stroudsburg University where he was an all-American in football while also playing baseball and earning a degree in health and physical education.
Petercuskie’s Neshaminy High School team produced a 51-game unbeaten streak in the early 1960s. After going 59-1-5 as a high school head coach, he served as an assistant at five colleges, including three in the Ivy League, on his way to an eight-year career as a special teams coach in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns.
Following his coaching career, Petercuskie retired to Cape Cod. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame and several other Halls of Fame.
Petercuskie is survived by his wife of 68 years, the former Dorothy Pritchyk, as well as three sons, seven grandchildren, five great grandchildren and two step grandchildren.
