BUTLER TWP — Mike Surkalo never attended Butler High School — as a student, anyway.

He went there for a number of other reasons, such as football, basketball, track and field, etc.

Now, the longtime Butler Eagle sports editor’s presence will forever be felt at the school. Surkalo will be one of six inductees enshrined into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame Sept. 20.

Surkalo died at age 90 in 2010. His induction will be accepted by his daughter, Jeanie Grupp, during the 5 p.m. ceremony in the high school cafeteria.

The inductees will then be honored on the field before the Golden Tornado’s home football game against North Hills.

“I’m so excited that they’re doing this,” Grupp said. “When I got the phone call, I just started crying.

“This shows my father has not been forgotten.”

Surkalo was sports editor at the Butler Eagle from 1946 until his retirement in 1985.

During a testimonial dinner in his honor in 1972, Surkalo admitted he had intended to stay in Butler for only a year, “but people treated me so well that I didn’t want to go.”

He spurned offers to work for larger newspapers as a result.

“He loved Butler,” Grupp said. “It quickly became his home. He had a chance to work for the Pittsburgh newspaper, but chose not to.

“He knew where he wanted to be.”

This will mark Surkalo’s fourth Hall of Fame induction. He already belongs to the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame, Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame and Butler County Bowling Association Hall of Fame.

He was one of the founders of the original Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame, which was renamed to Butler County in recent years.

“People appreciate him to this day and that’s nice,” Grupp said.

Besides his newspaper work, Surkalo served as president of the Butler Basketball Boosters, Butler County Baseball League, Butler County Fastpitch Softball League, Butler Bowling Association and Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame.

He was commissioner of the Butler Eagle County Baseball League and Butler County American Legion Baseball League.

Surkalo has a brother living in Colorado and a sister in Buffalo, N.Y., but they will be unable to attend the induction. Grupp is Surkalo’s only child.

“Growing up, it seemed like he was a part of every sport in Butler,” she said.

Longtime bowler and close friend Dwight Crowe described Surkalo as “an icon. Mike was revered here.”

Surkalo attended Butler Quarterback Club meetings and covered numerous athletic banquets.

“He never missed anything,” Crowe said.

“The guy was never home. He was so involved in the community,” former sports broadcaster and friend Ed Wadding said.

Earl Stoops, who worked in the Eagle composing room for 43 years, may have described Surkalo best.

“Mike was sports 24 hours a day,” Stoops said. “He cared very deeply about his work.”

This is the first in a series of articles profiling the 2013 inductees into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame.