Matt Suhey, the former Penn State standout who went on to become a key piece of the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl XX championship team, has died at 68.
The Daily Herald reported that Suhey died in his sleep Saturday night.
His death drew an immediate reaction from former Bears defensive tackle Dan Hampton, who said, “I am shocked,” to the outlet.
Suhey came out of a football family and a football town. The son of former Penn State star Steve Suhey, he played high school football at State College before heading to Happy Valley.
At Penn State from 1976 through 1979, the 5-foot-11, 217-pound running back piled up 2,818 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns. He also added 39 catches for 328 yards and two more scores.
Chicago took Suhey in the second round of the 1980 NFL Draft with the 46th overall pick, and he became much more than just another backfield name. As Walter Payton’s fullback and lead blocker, Suhey earned a reputation as one of the Bears’ most trusted and beloved players. He also found the end zone first in Chicago’s Super Bowl XX win over the New England Patriots.
“Matt had an awful lot of great runs early in that game when it was still in question,” Hampton told The Daily Herald. “All through the year, when it was third-and-4, everybody would be thinking Walter was going to get it and then - pop - there goes Suhey for 8 right up the middle.
Suhey’s NFL career ended with 2,946 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns, and he was later named one of the 100 greatest Bears of all-time.
Hampton’s tribute went beyond the football. “Quality of character, there was no one superior to Matt,” he said.
“He was truly a gentleman. He wasn’t like a bunch of the rest of us who were cutting up.
He was, I don’t want to say more adult, but he was real responsible. He played around with Walter and everyone else but he wasn’t a guy going out to the bar after the game.
He was a businessman.”
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