SOUTH JORDAN — Joe Borich had the looks — tall, dark complexion, dark hair — for Hollywood's central casting, and he heard the girls scream. He even married a high school cheerleader, Shauna Oliver, and was a star athlete. A dashing leading man.

Yet he was never cocky. He was just burning with ambition.

At Murray High, Borich was a two-sport all-stater in 1958, in football and basketball. He led Class A in scoring with a 22-point average in basketball and played tight end and defensive end in football.

After enrolling at Utah, he was the second-leading scorer on the Utes' freshman team behind the scoring machine — Billy "The Hill" McGill. Borich, 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, was recruited by both Jack Gardner and Jack Curtice. Curtice, however, left to be the Stanford football coach, so Borich decided to take Gardner's scholarship honor and play basketball.

"I was shooting hoops one day in the Einar Nelson Fieldhouse, and the football trainer came in and said coach (Ray) Nagel wanted my butt on the football field. I had asked myself, 'Why?' But Nagel had gone to Gardner's office that day to tell him he wanted me out playing football."

The dutiful Borich responded to Nagel's wishes, only to start at tight end for the Utes for his three varsity years. He was All-Skyline Conference twice and honorable mention All-America his senior year, finishing second in the nation with 32 receptions.

"You couldn't believe how dumb I was about life," Borich said, shaking his head. "I was getting questionnaires from the Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, and the CFL (Canadian Football League), and I didn't send them back.

"They didn't think I was interested in playing. But thanks to Jack Gardner, he talked to the people in Oakland, and I signed a free agent contract for $7,500 and a bonus of $250. While I was in training camp, I got a call from my dad (Mike), telling me that I had been drafted into the Army and was to report to Fort Douglas for my physical. So, I joined the Army Reserve.

"Two things happened to me while I was stationed at Fort Ord (Calif.) for my basic training. My dad had a heart attack and died on a train engine while working for Kennecott at the Bingham Mines. That really devastated me. And second, the Raiders had placed me on waivers, and I was claimed by the Detroit Lions.

"I didn't want to put up with the politics of pro sports. That's when I decided to become a Salt Lake County cop. I made sergeant and was the police academy director, and also, eventually after I retired, I became the director of public safety. That's something that I am proud of, because I am the only person to be the police academy and public safety director."

He is still Utah's safety director.

Borich didn't quit playing basketball. The 60-year-old played AAU and Salt Lake County Recreation basketball until he was 50. His 86-year-old mother, Pauline, is still shoveling snow when Joe isn't there to help her.

"I guess you can say that I didn't want to grow old and become a couch potato, and I always had a passion to play basketball more than football anyway," Borich said. "And I always wanted to be a good example for my kids."

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But as good an athlete as Borich was, his children — daughters Jody and Kelly and sons Mike and Joey — never knew it. He and Shauna hid the films and scrapbooks of his athletic endeavors.

"Dad never brought it up. Never put any pressure on us to become athletes," said Mike Borich, who is the Chicago Bears' wide receivers coach. "The most important thing he stressed on us was to get an education. I had heard from others that he was a good athlete. But I never broached the conversation to talk to him about it, because to us he was our dad. And that's the way he wanted it to be.

"As a matter of fact, Dad never came to me and said, 'I want you to play football.' I approached him. And the only thing he ever said about it was 'don't start anything you can't complete.' "


E-mail: torch@uswest.net

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