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Former Pro Bowl OT Tunch Ilkin dies at 63

Longtime Pittsburgh right tackle finished 12-year NFL career with Packers in 1993

Sep 06, 2021 at 07:00 AM

Wes Hodkiewicz

packers.com senior writer

Former Packers tackle Tunch Ilkin

GREEN BAY – Tunch Ilkin, the former two-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle who finished his 12-year NFL career with the Packers in 1993, has died at the age of 63.

Ilkin started 143 of the 176 games in which he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers before signing as an unrestricted free agent with the Packers on March 31, 1993. He played in one game for Green Bay that year before retiring from football.

Ilkin, the first person born in Turkey to play in the NFL, served as a TV and radio analyst for the Steelers from 1998-2020. He announced last October he was living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

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