Chuck Zapiec (born July 1, 1949) is a former All-American
linebacker at
Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...
and defensive captain of the
Cotton Bowl Champion
Nittany Lions
The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...
. He earned his All-American Status as a linebacker in the only year that he played linebacker at "Linebacker U". Prior to his senior year, he also started 2 seasons as an offensive guard for the Lions and helped his team to 2 undefeated seasons in 1968 and 1969. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1972 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He played with the Miami Dolphins. He was a Canadian Football League (CFL) All-Star with the
Montreal Alouettes.
Early years
Zapiec started every game at Penn State that he was eligible for and graduated with the best record of any Penn State Player ever, 34 and 1, winning two
Orange Bowls, defeating
Kansas and
Missouri, and one
Cotton Bowl, with a win over Texas.
"Big Daddy Z", as he was known by his friends and coach
Paterno, started as an
Offensive Guard his
Sophomore
In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
and Junior Years when the Lions went undefeated in 1968 and 1969. "Big Z" was named to the All-America Blocking Team selected by Wirt Gammon of the
Chattanooga Times in 1969. As an Offensive Guard he earned All-East Honors each Year and was a Honorable Mention All American Selection in 1969.
He is most remembered in Penn State Annals as the lead blocker that took out Kansas All-American
John Zook
John Eldon Zook (September 24, 1947 – June 6, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Falcons. Zoo ...
at the goal line that allowed
Bobby Campbell to score a 2-point conversion that lead to a
Nittany Lion 15-14 Orange Bowl Victory with no time on the clock. This successful try followed an errant pass on the first 2-point attempt when Kansas was penalized for having 12 men on the field.
George Plimpton, author of the book and movie ''
Paper Lion
''Paper Lion'' is a 1966 non-fiction book by American author George Plimpton.
In 1960, Plimpton, not an athlete, arranged to pitch to a lineup of professional baseball players in an All-Star exhibition, presumably to answer the question, "How ...
'', went on to characterize Zapiec's block on Zook as the most important block in College Football, equivalent to
Jerry Kramer
Gerald Louis Kramer (born January 23, 1936) is a former professional American football player, author and sports commentator, best remembered for his 11-year National Football League (NFL) career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive linema ...
taking out
Jethro Pugh at the goal line to allow
Bart Star to score in the 1967
NFL Championship
Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...
. Fourteen years later NBC voted the Penn State - Kansas finish as the most exciting game in the first 40 years of televising College Football.
Switching to Defense for the 1970 Season, Big Z was moved from guard to
middle linebacker, a position he was destined to play after idolizing his boyhood hero
Chuck Bednarik
Charles Philip Bednarik (May 1, 1925 – March 21, 2015), nicknamed "Concrete Charlie", was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL). He has been ranked one of the hardest hitting tacklers in NFL history an ...
, aka, "Concrete Charlie". Bednarik was the last of the 2-way performers in the NFL leading the
Philadelphia Eagles to the 1960 Championship over Lombardi's Packers when he played Center and Middle Linebacker for 60 minutes.
After only playing 1 game as a middle linebacker that year against Navy in 1970, he suffered an appendectomy flying out to
Colorado to play the Buffalos who went on the next day to defeat the Lions and bring to halt their 31-game winning streak. The next year, he returned to the defensive side of the ball moving to outside linebacker, captaining the Team and earning First-team All- American Honors. Additionally, he was awarded the Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Game Award (1971 was the first year that Chevrolet gave the game award) against
Iowa that year when he made 18 solo tackles in a victory over the
Hawkeyes
The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...
at
Kinnick Stadium
Nile Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team. First opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently holds up to 69,250 peo ...
- still a one-game record for Penn State Linebackers.
Professional career
Dallas Cowboys
Zapiec was selected by the
Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (93rd overall) of the
1972 NFL Draft
The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski.
Player selections
Round one
Round two
...
. He faced a difficult challenge in making the team, after the Cowboys selected a total of 5
linebackers and had one of the best
linebacking corps in
NFL
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 major ...
history already in place. He was waived on August 16.
Miami Dolphins
On August 16,
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
, he was claimed off waivers by the
Miami Dolphins to backup
middle linebacker Nick Buoniconti
Nicholas Anthony Buoniconti (December 15, 1940 – July 30, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a middle linebacker in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played for the Boston Patriot ...
. He was released on September 12.
Ottawa Rough Riders
In
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
, he signed to play
linebacker for the
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...
in the
Canadian Football League. The next year, he was placed on recall waivers in mid-season.
Montreal Alouettes
In
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
, Zapiec was claimed by the
Montreal Alouettes who were coached by
Marv Levy
Marvin Daniel Levy (; born August 3, 1925) is an American former football coach and executive who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons. He spent most of his head coaching career with the Buffalo Bills, lea ...
. He was a CFL All-Star two times and was a part of two
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
victories for the Alouettes. He left the team to sign with the
Kansas City Chiefs.
Kansas City Chiefs
On February 28,
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, he was signed by the
Kansas City Chiefs, reuniting with Levy who was his head coach with the Alouettes. He was cut on August 7.
Zapiec has the distinction of playing for the
winningest coach in college football,
Joe Paterno, and the winningest coach in professional football,
Don Shula
Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...
. He also played for two other
Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches,
Tom Landry and
Marv Levy
Marvin Daniel Levy (; born August 3, 1925) is an American former football coach and executive who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons. He spent most of his head coaching career with the Buffalo Bills, lea ...
.
Personal life
After his football career, he became a
Venture Capital &
Private Equity Professional. In the mid 1990s he left
Merrill Lynch
Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...
and formed his own Venture Capital Company, Waterford Capital. Waterford invested in fast growing Internet Companies, many of which are still operating today.
He later founded an Internet company and became its CEO, appliedE, Inc: focused on "KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVAL AND RECOLLECTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS" used by professionals to bill their clients for research done over the Internet. He registered 5 Patents issued to him as the Inventor which formed the basis of the company's software product, PartnerOnline.
A medical setback sent him on rest and recovery vacation to
Hilton Head in 1997 where he started investing in real estate. Using his tech background, he was one of the first vacation rental companies to advertise on the Internet and he used that advantage to grow his real estate holdings over the next 10 years.
Zapiec owned a Vacation Rental Company in
Hilton Head, SC
Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of C ...
- Hilton Head Hideaways. Additionally, he owns two other Enterprises, a Cleaning Services Company - A-1 Cleaning Services, and a Maintenance Company - A-1 Resort Services.
References
External links
Belles ringing out for Chuck, his gal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zapiec, Chuck
1949 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Players of American football from Pennsylvania
American football offensive guards
American football linebackers
Canadian football linebackers
Montreal Alouettes players
Ottawa Rough Riders players
Penn State Nittany Lions football players
Miami Dolphins players
Kansas City Chiefs players
American players of Canadian football