The Cal 100: No. 29 -- Chuck Muncie
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 29: Chuck Muncie
Cal Sports Connection: Muncie was a record-setting running back for Cal from 1973 through 1975
Claim to Fame: He finished second in the 1975 Heisman Trophy voting, and was named to three Pro Bowls in the NFL. After experiencing drug abuse, homelessness and prison, he turned his life around, establishing a program for at-risk youths.
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Chuck Muncie’s life had more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie mystery novel.
In a nutshell . . . .
---His real first name is not Chuck or Charles or anything close, and his three brothers, all of whom played pro football, go by the last name of Munsey.
---He had a childhood accident that left him with one leg shorter than the other and doubts whether he would ever walk properly again.
---He came to college on a basketball scholarship, but turned into a football star.
---He suffered through drug abuse, homelessness and prison time before establishing a foundation to help at-risk youths.
Harry Vance Muncie was born in 1953, and his father, for various reasons, listed his son’s last name as “Muncie,” unlike the family name “Munsey.”
His brothers hated the name Harry, so they called him Chuck -- and so did everyone else for the rest of his life.
At the age of 6, Muncie was hit by a truck, breaking his leg, hip and arm, and he was in a body cast from his feet to his neck for six months. It left his left leg shorter than his right, and doctors thought he might never walk properly again.
Muncie quit football in the third game of his senior year at Uniontown (Pa.) High School after suffering a concussion. He turned to basketball, earning a basketball scholarship to Arizona Western Junior College. The football coach there persuaded Muncie to try football, and he performed well enough to earn a football scholarship to Cal, where he broke all sorts of school records.
His 3,052 career rushing yards from 1973 through 1975 broke the Cal record by more than 500 yards, and he also had 97 catches for 1,075 receiving yards. His 1,450 rushing yards in 1975 broke the single-season school record by nearly 400 yards and stood for 29 years. He also had 39 catches for 392 yards that season, and completed all three of his pass attempts in 1975, two of which went for touchdown.
His final touchdown pass came in his final college game, a 48-15 victory over Stanford in which he also rushed for 169 yards and four touchdowns. It gave the Golden Bears an 8-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark in the Pac-8, guaranteeing Cal at least tie for the conference title. But six days later UCLA recorded a three-point win over USC to tie the Bears at 6-1, and the Bruins went to the Rose Bowl based on its victory over Cal earlier in the season. Cal has earned only one conference title since then, tying USC for the top spot in 2006.
Muncie was a first-team All-America selection by nearly every notable body, and he finished second, behind Archie Griffin, in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1975, the highest finish ever by a Cal athlete..
Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
The 1975 Cal team, which also featured quarterback Joe Roth and receivers Steve Rivera and Wesley Walker, led the nation in total offense.
Muncie was the third overall pick in the 1976 NFL draft, and he was named to three Pro Bowls and rushed for more than 1,000 yards twice during a nine-year NFL career with the Saints and Chargers. His NFL career ended after the first game of the 1984 season, when the NFL suspended him for a year after testing positive for cocaine.
A comeback attempt the next year never materialized, leading to retirement, drug abuse, homelessness and a 15-month prison stay on a two-year sentence for perjury and selling cocaine. The low point came when police found the homeless Muncie outside of Cal's Memorial Stadium.
However, he turned his life around in prison, mentoring at-risk inmates about the dangers of drug abuse. After leaving prison in 1990, he volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club and was later hired to a full-time position. Muncie eventually created the Chuck Muncie Foundation, which helped at-risk youths, providing free medical services, tattoo removal for gang members and camps for children who were ill.
At the request of Cal football coach Tom Holmoe in 1997, Muncie helped mentor Golden Bears football players.
Muncie died of heart failure in 2013 at the age of 60.
“He was a star on the football field but his most impressive work was done in the second chapter of his life where he lived his life with great transparency," said Muncie's former wife, Robyn Hood in the Associated Press obituary. "He simply wanted others to learn from his mistakes. He carried that message with him everywhere he went. And as a result, he changed the lives of hundreds of kids. He made a difference."
The Cal 100: No. 30 -- Archie Williams
Cover photo of Chuck Muncie courtesy of Cal Athletics
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