Penn State football lost one of its own this weekend. Matt Suhey, the Bellefonte-born fullback who carried the Nittany Lions from 1976 to 1979 and later helped the Chicago Bears win Super Bowl XX, has died at age 68, per NBC Chicago.
Suhey was not just another running back who came through Happy Valley. He was part of the Higgins-Suhey line that Penn State people still call the first family of Nittany Lion football.
His grandfather, Bob Higgins, was a Hall of Fame player and coach. His father, Steve Suhey, was a College Football Hall of Fame guard who starred for Penn State and later the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Two of Matt’s brothers also lettered in State College. His own son, Joe, later played fullback for the Lions from 2007 to 2011. Four generations, one program.
A State College Area High School product, Suhey stayed home and became a workhorse under Joe Paterno. In four seasons he rushed for 2,818 yards and 26 touchdowns on 633 carries. He added 39 receptions for 328 yards and two more scores, plus a punt-return touchdown.
He earned first-team All-East honors in 1978 and 1979 and was later named to the Pennsylvania Football All-Century Team. One of the signature days came in the 1977 Fiesta Bowl, when he scored twice in Penn State’s 42-30 win over Arizona State.
The Bears took him in the second round of the 1980 draft, 46th overall. He spent his entire 10-year NFL career in Chicago, blocking for Walter Payton, starting 100 games, and scoring the first touchdown of Super Bowl XX on an 11-yard run in the Bears’ 46-10 rout of New England.
Those accomplishments made him a Bear for life. They did not change where the story started.
In Happy Valley the numbers and the Super Bowl ring sit beside something quieter: a local kid who did the unglamorous work, stayed durable, and never treated the blue and white as a stepping stone.
Teammates and fans remembered the same traits that defined him in Beaver Stadium — toughness, selflessness, and a willingness to take the hit so someone else could score.
Cause of death was not released. The shock was real; friends said he had appeared healthy. For a program that measures itself in families as much as championships, the loss lands close to home.
Penn State will remember Matt Suhey the way it remembers the best of its own: as a Nittany Lion first.
