A photo shows Neil Sweeney, who recently died last month at the age of 99, during his retirement dinner in 1986. (Photo courtesy of Donna Kamp McMillion)
When Neil Sweeney passed away Nov. 30 at the age of 99, I knew I was going to write a column — but I didn’t know what direction to go.
People who know me know it’s not often I am at a loss for words, but this was one of those few times. As we grow older, more people around us pass away. It’s never easy and for everyone, it hits hard.
This was different.
For the Sweeney family, they lost their patriarch. For friends, we lost a person we held in the highest regard and who we looked forward to crossing paths.
For the city of Pleasanton, it was a gut punch as well. When Neil passed away, a big chunk of old-school Pleasanton went with him.
Neil was a major part of the fabric that made Pleasanton the great place so many wanted to live and raise their kids in.
An image taken from an old Foothill High School yearbook shows Neil Sweeney when he was the school’s principal in 1974. (Photo courtesy of the Museum on Main)
He started teaching and coaching at Amador Valley High School in the early 1950s, became principal at Amador, then moved on to be the first principal at Foothill High School in 1973. By the time he retired in 1986, he was the deputy superintendent for the Pleasanton school district.
Neil and his wife of 74 years Bev had eight children, had 21 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
My family moved into Pleasanton in 1967 and knew about the Sweeney clan almost immediately. I was a classmate of Elizabeth (Liz) throughout Valley View, Pleasanton School and Amador Valley.
Their son Matt became the iconic football coach at Foothill and a very good friend of mine over the years. I also grew to be good friends with Danny and Tim, two other Sweeney brothers.
The oldest brothers Joe and Pat were the type of guys we all looked up to when we were growing up.
A photo of Neil and Beverly Sweeney, who were winners of the 2024 History Maker Award. (Photo courtesy Museum on Main)
The Sweeney clan has been a testament to Neil and Bev and the job they did raising their kids.
The Sweeney family is of strong Catholic faith and when we moved into Pleasanton, it seemed over half of the town was Catholic, which we were as well.
Our school days ended with what seemed like half the school going from Valley View or Pleasanton School to St. Augustine for CCD.
Of course, being Catholic made all of us Notre Dame fans, something we still bond over every year. It started by watching and listening to Lindsey Nelson do Notre Dame highlights on Sunday morning.
It seemed like every Sunday throughout our high school years we would take up the back pew at St. Augustine for 7:30 a.m. mass before getting back home to watch the ND highlights.
There was nothing better than walking in downtown Pleasanton with my wife and running into Neil and Bev. It made everything seem right – it made your day.
I cannot think of once when I didn’t feel better about life when talking with Neil. I looked forward to hearing Neil’s thoughts on everything I wrote and was honored that he took the time to read my stories.
He was honest and appreciative of my stories and often told me thank you for holding our local athletes in such high regards.
Neil set the standard when it came to local students and athletes, spending time working for the North Coast Section when he retired from the Pleasanton Unified School District.
One thing Matt told me in the week after Neil had passed that sums up the person Neil was – always thinking about others.
Right before Neil passed away, he was able to share one final thought with his kids and grandkids either in person or via FaceTime.
“My dad told us everyone falls off the bike at different points in their life! You have to get back up and keep riding and don’t feel sorry for yourself,” Matty said of the last lesson. “That was literally at the end. We were so grateful and fortunate to have one last conversation with him.”
RIP Neil. We will all carry memories of times we talked with us for the rest of our lives.
SRV girls’ basketball
The Wolves made the trip down to the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona during the break, found themselves in the top bracket with some of the best teams in the country and came home with a 4-1 mark.
The Wolves opened the tournament with a 73-42 win over Southern Lab of Louisiana and followed it with a 65-52 win over St. Mary’s of Manhasset, N.Y.
The third game saw the lone loss when the Wolves fell 51-40 to Bishop McNamara of Maryland, the eventual champion of the tournament and a top-10 team nationally.
SRV rebounded with a 58-29 win over DPAC (an Andre Agassi academy school from Las Vegas). That put the Wolves into the fifth-place game where they beat Millennium of Arizona 59-47.
Mitty of San Jose was third in the tournament, beating Bullis of Maryland 58-46.
But there is no rest for San Ramon Valley as they open East Bay Athletic League play on Friday night at Carondelet, one of the other top teams in Northern California and the Wolves biggest rival.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation. To sign up for free, visit here.
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