Gorscak ends scouting career, seeks next challenge
You can take Mark Gorscak out of the Mon Valley, but you can’t take the Mon Valley out of Gorscak.
The Donora native and Ringgold High School graduate will retire from his position as a college scout for the Steelers June 2 after 28 years on the job, but like so many others who grew up along the banks of the Monongahela River, he’s not ready to slow down in his retirement.
He doesn’t know what’s next in his life, but he does know it will involve something in football – just at his own pace and choosing.
Gorscak received many phone calls and texts after he announced his retirement on social media earlier this week.
“I’m 66. I’ve got a lot of life to give yet,” said Gorscak, a member of the Mid-Mon Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame.
“It’s humbling. You didn’t realize the impression you make. I just need a change. I need a challenge. Twenty-eight years of doing something, you’re in a rut. I was getting bored. It wasn’t the same. I still love what I do, but I needed a challenge. I need the creativity. I’m a lifelong learner. I seek creativity. It’s time to create. You just don’t realize the things you have created throughout the process. The number of texts, phone calls, has been phenomenal. This is a guy who is just a scout. It’s very humbling.”
But not necessarily unexpected. Gorscak is a people person. And he has always enjoyed helping those around him.
He’s never been one to turn a cold shoulder to young scouts trying to find their way in a cutthroat business. And it was his willingness to help people that landed him a job with the Steelers in 1995 – even though he wasn’t aware there was an opening.
A graduate of Dickinson College, where he earned a degree in psychology before earning a Master’s in sports administration from St. Thomas University in Miami, Gorscak held a number of jobs in the football world, from coach to administrator to being the initial general manager of the Pittsburgh Maulers in the Arena Football League before the NFL reached out to him.
Gorscak was working at Weber State University when a friend, Minnesota Vikings scout Don Deisch, recommended Gorscak to Steelers scouting director Tom Modrak for a position as a BLESTO scout – unbeknownst to Gorscak.
“I get a phone call from Tom Modrak. He goes, ‘This is Tom Modrak from the Steelers,'” Gorscak recalled. “I said, ‘You need tape? What do you need?’ He goes, ‘No, I want to know if you want to interview to be our BLESTO rep for the Pittsburgh Steelers.’ I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’
“He said, ‘How about next week, we’ll interview.’ I told him we had a problem. I run this camp in Alaska. Can I interview the following week?’ Mo goes, ‘You do what? Can’t someone else run the camp?’ I said, ‘To be truthful, no.’ Mo goes, ‘You sure you want to postpone this?’ I said, ‘I have to.’ He said, ‘OK, I’ll interview you the following week. But just so you know, I’ll interview some other people, then.’ I thought what an idiot I am. This is the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
As it turned out, Modrak hired Gorscak immediately after his interview. It was 1995.
“Very blessed. I’m dumbfounded,” he said. “To go to the Super Bowl your first year, you think it’s pretty easy. In 1995, I started, we went to Tempe, Ariz., and played the Cowboys. I’m thinking this is easy. I’ll be back again. It took another 10 years before I got back in 2005. You learn how precious it is to get to a Super Bowl and to win it.”
The Steelers went to four Super Bowls in Gorscak’s 28 years, winning two. He proudly wears a Super Bowl ring as a reminder of the people he’s worked with over the years.
“I’m proud and fortunate to have lived through seeing Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin, the many assistants both of them had,” Gorscak said. “The players, you start looking at that defense back in the day. Wow! We were loaded. It was just phenomenal.”
Gorscak and the scouting department had a hand in that. And along the way, he also made an impact in other ways.
For the past 20 years, Gorscak has run the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. His calm demeanor with the nervous participants has gotten him plenty of acclaim.
And the participants know who he is – thanks to the NFL Network’s coverage.
“When you start talking about these young men and their abilities, the influence you might have in report writing or meeting them at the Combine, it’s a humbling experience,” Gorscak said. “I have young people come up to me before running the 40 and they say, ‘I’ve been waiting for this my whole life.’ I say, ‘What, the Combine?’ The player will say, ‘No, you starting me in the 40. I’ve been watching you since I was a little kid.'”
He’d like to continue in those duties, but once he’s no longer affiliated with an NFL team, he’ll need special approval by the board that runs the Combine to do so.
Even if that doesn’t come to fruition, he’ll have other opportunities. And he’ll stay busy in the fall attending Steelers games as a fan.
He just won’t be devoting so much of his time circling the country looking at prospects. He’ll do what he wants to do, picking and choosing which jobs he wants to take.
“I figured out that I spent nine years of my life in 28 years in a Marriott hotel,” Gorscak said with a laugh. “That’s not a badge of courage. That’s more stupidity.”
But it was a labor of love. He grew up playing football, loving the game. And Joe Montana’s center on Ringgold High School’s football team did OK for himself. He might not have Montana’s four Super Bowl rings, but he wound up with two.
“Six rings from the same high school team,” Gorscak said. “That’s not too bad.”