Emil...a judge on the field and in the court room:

After serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II and obtain the rank of major, he left the service in 1946. Emil turned down an offer to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers and became an assistant football coach and full-time law student at West Virginia University.

Emil Narick had a common-sense approach to law. This enabled him to end many labor disputes. He had a long career in labor law. Upon graduation from WVU, Emil moved to the National Labor Relations Board, traveling the nation to mediate labor disputes. He became assistant general counsel to the United Steelworkers of America in 1958 and almost won the presidency of the United Steelworkers union in 1969. He lost by 10 percentage points.

During this career, though, he would gain his widest fame for cracking down on the bizarre tactics of the pro-labor group DMX (which used disruptive tactics) in the mid 1980's. Emil once said that this was his most difficult case. The Rev. D. Douglas Roth, a Lutheran pastor and member of DMX threw skunk oil into a children's Christmas party at a church to bring attention to the plight of unemployed steelworkers. Rev. Roth was removed from his pulpit and barricaded himself in his former church. Judge Narick eventually jailed the Rev. Roth during a drawn-out court battle in which the judge's family received death threats. According to Emil's son, Kirk Narick, "It reached the proportion where we had a county trooper living at our house and one across the street."

State Supreme Court Justice Ralph J. Cappy, said about Emil "He was a people's judge. He was first and foremost concerned with the law, but after what the law dictated, his heart went with the little guy."

Dan Shuckers, who had known Emil since their attorney days, said "He was the type of person that, if you were in a room with him, you always knew he was in charge."

Rachel Stoltenberg, went to work for Emil as a law clerk soon after Emil's wife, Rebecca, died suddenly. All who him said the he was devastated by her death in 1998. Rachel said "He was a true gentleman, probably one of the last. He respected people, respected their views."

His son Kirk said "He always wanted to give back. He could have made a lot more money in private practice than he ever made as a judge, but it was his way of giving back."