Apollo-Ridge grad Nick Curci chooses to leave football, focus on track and field at Duquesne

For a time, football defined Nick Curci’s role. Not much — if anything — exemplified it more than a tenacious approach to his senior year when he spearheaded a furious late-season rally that carried injury-stricken Apollo-Ridge to an improbable WPIAL playoff berth.

He finished the year with 1,571 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns, falling 20 yards short of Duane Brown’s school-record total for a season.

“What was even more impressive (was) we didn’t have a lot of options,” Apollo-Ridge football coach John Skiba told TribLive in December 2022 following Curci’s senior season. “We knew he was our guy, and he accepted that role.”

Today, Curci is accepting a far different role, turning from football as he enters his sophomore year at Duquesne to focus only on track and field.

He participated as a freshman in both sports for the Dukes.

But all those years of hard knocks on the gridiron, beginning at Apollo-Ridge Middle School when he was 13, have come to an end as Curci simply lost interest in football.

“I just kind of fell out of love with the sport in college,” he said. “It was nothing to do with the coaches. It just feels really good to focus on track. I felt like I belonged.”

As a 6-foot-1, 225-pound freshman linebacker, Curci, who is enrolled in the university’s school of nursing, appeared in six games, mainly on special teams, for the defending Northeast Conference champion Duquesne football team.

His departure left coach Jerry Schmitt at least thankful for his time with Curci, who still plans on rooming with some former football teammates.

“It was a disappointment to learn that he would not continue to play football, but I understood where he was going with his thought process,” Schmitt said. “I’m happy he’s still going to live with his guys. He’ll always have a place in our program.”

Referring to Curci as “an outstanding young man, a true gentleman,” Schmitt appreciated coaching him.

“He was putting himself in a position to get on the field,” Schmitt said. “As a freshman, he was getting on some special teams, and we loved him as a staff. And I know our players loved him.”

Since then, Curci has bulked to 245 pounds, hoping for added strength mainly as a discus and hammer thrower for the men’s track and field team, where he came onto the scene late, just before the start of last season’s schedule.

“Being a football player, he’s super strong. So that helps,” said Duquesne assistant Shannon Taub, the Dukes’ throwing coach.

A two-time WPIAL medal winner in the discus, Curci placed 10th in the event at the PIAA championships in 2023.

He said he’s determined to make an improvement this season after getting that late start last spring, when he didn’t begin practicing until a month before the opening meet in March.

“I find a lot more enjoyment in track,” Curci said. “Maybe I thought I wanted to pursue football, but I think that was more of a self-serving approach. I just feel relieved. It was fun playing with your buddies in football, and it was really sad having the meeting with coach Schmitt and those guys. They were really supportive.”

Duquesne’s track and field staff, led by head coach Jeff Gibson, is excited to have Curci’s full attention.

Taub said she hopes he can help elevate the men’s program closer to the women’s, where it produced 13 place-winners at the Atlantic 10 championships in 2022-23, including a second consecutive gold medal in the heptathlon by Emily Brozeski, a Norwin product.

Curci competed in eight men’s meets as a freshman, primarily in discus with one shot put and one javelin outing. He is looking forward to adding the hammer throw to his repertoire, hoping for a smooth start, similar to the adjustment he made to the increased size of the college discus over high school.

“The goal is to be highly competitive in the A-10, and maybe in a couple of seasons getting to the NCAAs,” Curci said. “In this season, I’d like to place in the top five in the A-10 in the discus, and I want to be competitive in the hammer.”

While the hammer throw varies in technique to the discus and shot put events, Taub is being optimistic that Curci can adapt.

“It’s definitely his mentality and attitude that stands out,” she said. “He’s positive, he’s coachable and he’s willing to learn. When you have somebody like that, you’re grateful. The first day he showed up (last season), I said, ‘This kid is going to be good for us.’ ”