Charles Edward Sumner (October 19, 1930 – April 3, 2015) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player who was selected by the Chicago Bears in the 22nd round of the

1954 NFL Draft The 1954 National Football League Draft was held on January 28, 1954, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. This was the eighth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery. With the previous seven winners i ...

. A 6'1", 194 lbs.

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

from the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

, Sumner played in eight

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) seasons, from 1955 to 1962. He later was an assistant coach in the NFL for many years, including three stints with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. Sumner's only head coaching stint was with the

Oakland Invaders The Oakland Invaders were a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League (USFL) from 1983 through 1985. Based in Oakland, California, they played at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The team can tra ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL) in 1985. That year, he led the Invaders, a club that featured future NFL stars Anthony Carter,

Bobby Hebert Bobby Joseph Hebert Jr. (surname pronounced ; born August 19, 1960) is an American sportscaster and former professional football quarterback. He played in the United States Football League (USFL) and National Football League (NFL) from 1983 to ...

Ray Bentley Ray Russell Bentley (born November 25, 1960) is a former professional American football linebacker, broadcaster, and author. Biography Playing career Bentley's first three years in professional football were spent with the Michigan Panthers and ...

and Gary Plummer, to the USFL Championship Game. The 1985 USFL Championship game was the last game the league ever played. The Invaders lost to the

Baltimore Stars The Philadelphia / Baltimore Stars were a professional American football team which played in the United States Football League (USFL) in the mid-1980s. Owned by real-estate magnate Myles Tanenbaum, they were the short-lived league's dominant ...

, 28–24, at Giants Stadium. Sumner was born in

Radford, Virginia Radford (formerly Lovely Mount, Central City, English Ferry and Ingle's Ferry) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of 2020, the population was 16,070 by the United States Census Bureau. For statistical purposes, the Bureau ...

. He was inducted into the

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, administrators, journalists and other contributors to athletics. Many of the more than 350 inductees since 1972 were born in Virginia or enjoyed success in college, professional, amateur or ...

in 2007. He died in Maui, Hawaii on April 6, 2015.Jerry McDonald
''Former Raiders coach Charlie Sumner, architect of Super Bowl XVIII touchdown, dies in Maui at age 84.''
Obituary on ibabuzz.com, 6 April 2015, retrieved 7 April 2015.

References

1930 births 2015 deaths American football safeties Chicago Bears players Minnesota Vikings players New England Patriots coaches Oakland Raiders coaches Pittsburgh Steelers coaches Sacramento Surge coaches William & Mary Tribe football players United States Football League coaches People from Dublin, Virginia People from Radford, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia {{defensiveback-1930s-stub