Chuck Sweeney

Sweeney played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team under coach Elmer Layden during the 1935, 1936 and 1937 seasons.^[1] In his senior year he beat out team captain Joe Zwers for a starting position.^[2] During the season his play was difference in several Fighting Irish victories including a late safety against Navy and a blocked extra point versus Minnesota.^[3] He also almost single-handedly beat Northwestern by blocking a punt for the only score of the game, recovering 2 fumbles, intercepting a pass, and downing a punt at the 1 yard line.^[1][3] For his play, the 6-foot, 190-pound end, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, having received first-team honors from several publications and organizations including the Associated Press (AP), and United Press International (UPI).^[4] After the season, he was also invited to participate in several post season All-Star games including the Chicago College All-Star Game and the East-West Shrine Game.^[1] In a game that pitted the previous season NFL Champion versus a team of recently graduated college players selected by fans across the country, Sweeney broke the Chicago College All-Star game record for the most votes for a single college player.^[2][5] He helped the College All-Stars beat a Sammy Baugh led Washington Redskins.^[6]

After graduating from Notre Dame, he took a job as branch manager at Sinclair Refining Company in South Bend, Indiana. He worked at Sinclair until he retired in 1968.^[2] He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 1938 NFL draft.^[7] He never played a game in the league but did take part in many games. A few years after taking the job at Sinclair, NFL commissioner and Sweeney's former coach Elmer Layden offered him a job as a game official for the National Football League.^[2] He officiated for 25 years including several championship games.^[2] One, the 1958 NFL Championship Game, was the first sudden-death overtime game and became widely known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played."^[2][8] At the age of 85, Chuck Sweeney died August 4, 1999, of heart failure in St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in South Bend.^[2]