Steven Joseph Suhey (January 8, 1922 – January 8, 1977) was a former professional

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 with ...

player, playing

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

for two seasons in the

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 ...

for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. He was an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n 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 ...

. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1985. His son

Matt Suhey Matthew Jerome Suhey (born July 7, 1958) is an American former professional football player who was a fullback for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears. He won a Super Bowl as a member of the 1985 Bears while ...

also played at Penn State and in the NFL.

Penn State

Suhey's college career was interrupted by three years of service in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Suhey was the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the 1948

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

. It has been suggested Penn State's now-famous "We Are Penn State!" stadium cheer has its origins in a statement made by

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

Suhey prior to that game. Suhey is said to have declared, “We are Penn State. There will be no meetings,” in response to SMU's request for a meeting to protest the participation of Penn State's two black players ( Wallace Triplett and Dennie Hoggard). While at Penn State, Suhey became a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity.

Personal life

After playing two seasons in the NFL with the

, Suhey coached high school football before joining the L.G. Balfour Company.

"First family of Nittany Lion football"

Suhey married Virginia "Ginger" Higgins, a daughter of Bob Higgins, a former All-American at Penn State and Suhey's college coach. Three of their sons, Larry, Paul, and Matt, were

lettermen The Lettermen are an American male pop vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959. They have had two Top 10 singles (both No. 7), 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contempor ...

at Penn State from 1975–1979. Matt would go on to play 10 seasons in the NFL with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. One grandson, Kevin Suhey, was a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and special teams player for the Nittany Lions from 2005–2007 and another grandson, Joe Suhey, was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for Penn State from 2007–2010. The Higgins-Suhey family has been called the "first family of Nittany Lion football", with 90 years of involvement with the Penn State football program.

References

1922 births 1977 deaths People from State College, Pennsylvania United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II American football offensive linemen Penn State Nittany Lions football players Pittsburgh Steelers players College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from DeWitt, New York {{Offensive-lineman-1920s-stub