Don't know if any of you even know who I'm talking about. Jim Sweeney was the coach of the Fresno State Bulldogs during the 80's. I photographed him many times and witnessed some of the funniest shit you'll ever see during those times.....Here's just a few.
One night game when it was cold as hell, he took off his shirt and was bare chested during the game and started twirling it around to get the fans up. Screaming like a mad man.
After one game, in the parking lot, he was pissed at the opposing coach and got in a fist fight with him.
One game he left his place on the field during the middle of the game and walked over to the band section and started yelling at them to get up and play.
The best one of all...A local sports writer named Bill McEwen, wrote a story about the fans in New Mexico calling him Sweeney the Weenie and throwing hot dogs at him. So after the game in Fresno, the radio broadcast which aired the games, was down on the field to interview him with a hot mic. Sweeney didn't know the mic was live and called McEwen a mother fucking cocksucker right over the air live. The radio guy let him know he was live. Sweeney apologized to the kids listening and his dead wife if she was listening. It was the funniest thing I had ever heard.
The man was a local legend who drank like a fish and cussed like a sailor. A throw back coach. RIP to the man who was Bulldog born, Bulldog bred, Bulldog til the day he's dead....
One night game when it was cold as hell, he took off his shirt and was bare chested during the game and started twirling it around to get the fans up. Screaming like a mad man.
After one game, in the parking lot, he was pissed at the opposing coach and got in a fist fight with him.
One game he left his place on the field during the middle of the game and walked over to the band section and started yelling at them to get up and play.
The best one of all...A local sports writer named Bill McEwen, wrote a story about the fans in New Mexico calling him Sweeney the Weenie and throwing hot dogs at him. So after the game in Fresno, the radio broadcast which aired the games, was down on the field to interview him with a hot mic. Sweeney didn't know the mic was live and called McEwen a mother fucking cocksucker right over the air live. The radio guy let him know he was live. Sweeney apologized to the kids listening and his dead wife if she was listening. It was the funniest thing I had ever heard.
The man was a local legend who drank like a fish and cussed like a sailor. A throw back coach. RIP to the man who was Bulldog born, Bulldog bred, Bulldog til the day he's dead....
