He attended Compton Junior College in southern California for a year,[2] with plans to play basketball at USC, where his older brother Max (1914–44) starred in football.

[3][4] When the assistant basketball coach at USC that recruited him got the head job at Idaho, also a member of the Pacific Coast Conference, Belko followed Forrest Twogood north in 1936 and hitchhiked over a thousand miles (1600 km) to Moscow.

[5][6] A two-sport athlete for the Vandals, he was a guard and small forward in basketball and a halfback and quarterback[7] on the football team,[8] and a teammate of future coaches Lyle Smith and Tony Knap.

[5] Following his military service, Belko briefly returned to Lewiston,[13] then moved to the University of Idaho in Moscow and coached the Vandal freshman teams in football and basketball.

[14][15][16][17] In 1950, Belko was hired as the head basketball coach at Idaho State College in Pocatello,[17][18] which became a four-year school in 1947.

[21] Following a pair of 17–9 seasons, Belko stepped down in April 1971 at age 55 and remained in Eugene as the assistant athletic director at Oregon.