John Yurkow was destined to coach baseball.
Even if he didn’t know it yet.
Rowan’s baseball coach at the time, Juan Ranero, knew, and it was Ranero who put the bug in Yurkow’s ear when he was just a freshman in 1996.
“I’ll never forget it was my freshman year, we were just talking and having a conversation,” Yurkow recalled. “He asked me, ‘Hey, have you thought about becoming a coach?’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean? Like, for a job? He was the first one to put the bug in my ear. … I don’t know if I’d be coaching now if it wasn’t for Juan.”
Yurkow recently embarked on his 12th season as the head baseball coach at Penn, but earlier this month, it was announced that Yurkow will be inducted into the Rowan/Glassboro State Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 19.
Yurkow played second base for the Profs from 1996-99 and is one of six individuals and two teams that comprise the 2025 Hall of Fame class.
Yurkow is Rowan’s all-time leader in both runs (179) and walks (175). He was selected All-New Jersey Athletic Conference three times and posted a 113-46 record as a player. Notably, he was a part of Rowan’s 1999 NJAC Championship team. In the same season, he was awarded second-team All-America honors.
“The thing about Rowan that comes back, the memories — it’s not about a big hit. It’s more about the people that I met there and the relationships that I developed. Whether with teammates, administrators, coaches,” said Yurkow.
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Yurkow would get his coaching start with Rowan, where he served as an assistant coach from 1999-2001. He would then coach at Duke for four seasons before landing at Penn.
Yurkow served as an assistant for seven seasons with the Quakers before being promoted to head coach in 2014. After 11 seasons as head coach, he is third all-time in total wins with a record of 227-188-1.
Most recently, he coached the Quakers to back-to-back Ivy League Tournament championships.
‘Great seeing his reaction’
Current Rowan baseball head coach Mike Dickson has known Yurkow for over 30 years. The two were teammates at Gloucester Catholic High School and at Rowan. Yurkow was one year ahead of Dickson.
“Mike’s dad got sick when he was in high school, I was kind of trying to recruit him to try to come to Rowan,” said Yurkow. “His dad wound up passing. We were close from playing in high school, but after he came to Rowan, we became even closer and were actually roommates.”
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Dickson and Yurkow’s collegiate playing days overlapped by three seasons. In the 1999 championship season, Dickson was named the NJAC player of the year, batting .439 with 41 RBIs.
The benefactor of many of those RBIs was the program’s all-time runs leader, Yurkow.
“We hit in the top leadoff order,” said Yurkow. “I was on base and trying to draw attention away, trying to steal bases while he was driving me in quite a bit. We played off each other very well.”
Added Dickson: “I would say we’re both gritty-type players. We came from that background at Gloucester Catholic, with such a winning tradition, and we wanted to carry that to Rowan. We took that mentality, and prior to us getting that [championship], Rowan hadn’t won a conference title in 20 years.”
Dickson, who also serves as Rowan’s assistant athletic director, was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2018. Dickson was told Yurkow would be a part of the Class of 2025 ahead of time. He coordinated with Penn pitching coach Josh Schwartz to surprise Yurkow with the news.
When Yurkow went to address the team after a recent practice, he noticed a familiar face in the huddle. It was Dickson, who walked up and told Yurkow he was selected for Rowan’s Hall of Fame. The two embraced as Yurkow’s Penn players and fellow coaches applauded.
“I didn’t want to call him on the phone and tell him,” said Dickson. “I wanted to do it in person. I think it’s more special when you have the opportunity to find that out in person. It’s more real. We got raw emotion. I thought it was great seeing his reaction.”
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