Gymnast Musko joining county's HOF
This is the ninth in a series of articles profiling the 2018 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of FameTaught by a pioneer, Ken Musko became a pioneer himself.After a stellar high school and collegiate gymnastics career, the 1962 Butler graduate went on to create innovative and effective teaching programs at Knoch High School, Butler High School and Butler Vo-Tech. Now he's becoming a Hall of Famer.Musko, 73, will be inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame during the organization's 53rd annual banquet at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Lyndora American Legion Hall.“I'm very excited about this,” he said.Musko was on Paul Uram's first gymnastics team at Butler, where he consistently finished second to standout Jim Curzi, who went on to a stellar career at Michigan State.“Paul Uram had a very big influence on my life,” Musko said. “He was a pioneer in the way he built a gymnastics program at Butler that was dominant for decades.“I was a sixth-grader at Lyndora Elementary when he asked me to come out for gymnastics. My father was very supportive of that and it was a wonderful experience.“Coach Uram always said that if you want to be the best, work out with the best, hang out with the best, watch the best,” Musko added.That's what Musko did with Curzi, “who became my best buddy. Guys like Jim made me work harder, want to do bigger tricks.”Late in his senior year at Butler, Musko suffered a fractured vertebrae during an accident on the high bars. He spent the next year and a half wearing a brace, unable to compete.He received a gymnastics scholarship to West Virginia University regardless.“William Bonsall was the coach there and he competed in the 1948 Olympics,” Musko said. “He told me he'd honor that scholarship as long as I didn't go someplace else once I was able to compete.”He wound up competing for WVU the final two years of his career. Musko led the Mountaineers to the Southern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League championship his senior year.He won the side horse event, placed second on the team in all-around and was team captain during his final season.His accomplishments in athletics were far from over.Musko went on to become a physical education teacher at Knoch, where through donations he was able to oversee the construction of the nation's first Marine Corps obstacle confidence course at a high school.“We were able to get $100,000 worth of materials donated from a variety of sources,” Musko said. “Once we had everything we needed, the Marines' reserve unit in New Castle came in and built it ... 100 to 200 Marines on campus every day until it got done.“That made national network news. We also had a ski slope, two doubles tennis courts and other items put in.”Musko pioneered the LifeTime Sports Program and facilities at Knoch and received one of America's Foremost Secondary Education Teacher of the Year awards for his efforts.He later went on to Butler High School and pioneered a program there to assist students with behavioral problems. He had the students visit the morgue to see autopsies done on kids their age who lost their lives to drugs or violence.He put in a similar motivational program, at the Butler Vo-Tech.Musko appeared on national TV programs such as NBC's Today Show and the CBS Evening News. In 1979, he received the Freedoms Foundation Medal for his efforts.“All I wanted to do was motivate young people, help show them they are better than they thought they were,” he said.Musko also served as recreation director for Butler Township for 17 years.Tickets to the BCSHOF banquet are still available at Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall.
