Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) - April 2, 1985

 

Walter N. Nackoney, 71, a retired coach and educator, died Saturday at Northeastern Hospital. He lived in the Frankford section of the city. A graduate of Frankford High School and Temple University, he returned to his old school as a physical education teacher and coach in 1949. In the years that followed, he taught and coached at West Philadelphia High School, Vaux Junior High School and Benjamin Franklin High School. He also served as principal at Frankford and Roxborough Evening Adult Schools. In 1960, he was named vice principal at Olney High School, a post he filled until he retired in 1979. He remained active in Olney's Big Four Fathers' Association in the years after his retirement. From 1981 to 1984, he served as president of the Colonial Philadelphia Historical Society. He was honored with the 1984 distinguished service award of the Olney Kiwanis Club, an organization he had headed. He was a member of the Temple Varsity Club, the PIAA District 1 Officials Club, and the Philadelphia Physical Education & Health Association. He had been an outstanding distance runner at Temple, in 1933 winning the National Junior AAU chapionship in a record time that held for 35 years. He competed in the Olympic trials in 1936 and won the 500-meter indoor Middle Atlantic AAU championship in 1939. He was a veteran of officiating at the Penn Relays and The Inquirer games. Mr. Nackoney enlisted in the Navy during World War II and served in the Pacific as a lieutenant with Amphibious Force 15. He was elected to Temple's Hall of Fame in 1980. Surviving are his wife, Genevieve Gramiak Nackoney; sons, Ogden and Raymond; daughter, Ruth McCullough; five granddaughters, and four sisters. A viewing will be held tomorrow with Parastas services at 5:30 p.m. at the Nasevich Funeral Home, 109 E. Tabor Rd. A Requiem Liturgy will be offered at 9 a.m. Thursday at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church, Orthodox and Tacony Streets. Burial will be in St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery, Fox Chase.