Joseph M. Yukica Jr. ’51

Joseph M. Yukica Jr. ’51, former head football coach at Dartmouth and an honorary member of the class of 1951, died in Hanover on January 20. Joe was Dartmouth’s head football coach from 1978 to 1986. He took a team that had lost 27 lettermen from the previous season and won the Ivy League championship, the first of three such titles during his tenure. He was named New England coach of the year that season. Buddy Teevens ’79, the current Dartmouth coach and the quarterback on Joe’s first Dartmouth team, described Yukica as “generous, supportive, and possessing a great football mind.” Others praised his quiet dignity and strong convictions. He grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and earned a bachelor’s and master’s in history from Pennsylvania State University, where he was a receiver and tight end on the football team. He had a 33-year coaching career that included successful leadership of programs at the University of New Hampshire and Boston College. He served in the 1960s as an assistant coach at Dartmouth under Bob Blackman. That was the beginning of his love affair with Hanover, where he and his wife, Betty, eventually retired. In retirement they operated a successful real estate business in the Hanover area.