Joe Tormey: Avoca native overcame health hurdles as Pitt All-American
Tormey was reportedly Pitt's star player in a win against previously unbeaten Notre Dame.
The 1932 University of Pittsburgh football season was tough on Joe Tormey.
He battled a handful of injuries and illnesses, including a combination of both that had struck him right before a massive home game against Notre Dame.
Tormey emerged from his sick bed, however, when he got wind of head coach Jock Sutherland’s plans to substitute him out for the team’s third-string center.
Pitt’s coaches and medical personnel were concerned about Tormey, especially as the game began and he played as hard as ever.
“Feeling OK, Joe?” the team physician asked at halftime.
“Swell,” Tormey grimaced. “Another half like that first one and I’m cured!”
Tormey “played a whale of a game,” according to the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, and Pitt defeated Notre Dame, 12-0. The win improved Pitt to 5-0-1 and dropped Notre Dame to 3-1.
After the game, former Pitt center Ralph Daugherty sought out Tormey, his former backup.
Daugherty praised Tormey, moving him to tears.
“I tried to play the game as you would have played it,” Tormey told him.
Tormey tests the limits of what it means to be a “product of the Wyoming Valley.” But in my book — or, website — he counts.
Unlike virtually all the other players celebrated on College Football Incubator, Tormey played high school football outside of Northeastern Pennsylvania. However, he was born in Avoca, Luzerne County.
Born Dec. 17, 1908, Tormey lived with his family on McAlpine Street. It’s unclear if they lived on the Duryea or Avoca side of the popular street; census reports show the Tormeys were in “Duryea Ward 3” in 1910 and “Avoca Ward 1” in 1920 despite living at the same address.
Nonetheless, the Tormeys moved to Western Pennsylvania before Joe reached high school.
Tormey’s finest season at Pitt came in 1932. A senior and starting center, Tormey was a pivotal member of an otherwise youthful line.
“What am I going to do about a line?” Sutherland quipped to reporters before the 1932 season. “All I’ve got is a center, Joe Tormey. If you can tell me the names of the other six men in the forward wall, I’ll turn over my season’s pay and go back to the dentist’s business for the rest of my life.”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in November 1932 highlighted Tormey in a scouting report.
“One of best pivot men in the East,” the newspaper said. “Unfortunate in being at Pitt during Ralph Daugherty’s regime … that kept him out of limelight for two seasons.”
Pitt finished Tormey’s senior season with an 8-1-2 record, tying Ohio State and Nebraska and getting routed by USC, 35-0, in the Rose Bowl.
Despite his health battles in 1932, Tormey still earned recognition from Collier’s as an honorable mention All-American center. The United Press also selected Tormey as a third-team All-American.
Tormey served in the Navy during World War II and worked as a salesman for at least part of his adult life.
Tormey died in 1998. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh.
View the constantly updated list of all the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region’s major college football All-Americans by clicking this link.