Linebacker on 1967 Rose Bowl team a 2011 Hall of Fame inductee

Only one team in IU’s football history has ever been to the Rose Bowl, and linebacker James Sniadecki was literally in the middle of that team’s defense, which never allowed more than 20 points.

Sniadecki was a junior on the 1967 team that shared a Big Ten title with Minnesota and Purdue and faced off against USC in the Rose Bowl. Fourty-four years after that season began, Sniadecki will be inducted into the Indiana Athletics Hall of Fame on
Friday.

A three-year starter at IU, Sniadecki garnered All-Big Ten, AP All-America and UPI All-America honors.

Before he was an All-American at IU, the South Bend native was a big Notre Dame fan. He made the Notre Dame football stadium his personal gym, like another famous Notre Dame figure.

“I used to run up and down the steps in the Notre Dame stadium,” Sniadecki said. “Once I could go up and down all the steps all the way around the stadium, I felt like I was in pretty good shape. When that movie, ‘Rudy,’ came out, I was like, ‘Hey, I did that.’”

His training in high school paid off, as his high school team at South Bend St. Joseph’s High School went undefeated in 1964 and was voted state champion.

Sniadecki said he received offers from Indiana, Notre Dame, Ball State and Wisconsin, among others. When he visited IU, he found the

factor that would influence his decision the most: new coach John Pont.

“After meeting him and his charisma, his energy and his plans for the program for the future, he just was exciting,” Sniadecki said. “You just knew that he was the type of coach that you wanted to play for and that IU could possibly be a really good team.”

Even though the Hoosiers went 1-8-1 in 1966, the potential Sniadecki said he saw in the team became a reality in 1967 when they beat Purdue — after being a two-touchdown underdog at home — to advance to the Rose Bowl.

Sniadecki and the rest of the IU team traveled to southern California to face USC. Behind the large Trojan line was O.J. Simpson, a member of both the college football and National Football League halls of fame.

“We were like little gnats all over him,” Sniadecki said. “We were fast. We couldn’t put up with their bigness and power, but we were fast and sparky and enthusiastic about being there and we wanted to show that we were a good team, too.”

In spite of the Hoosiers’ effort, Simpson ran for 125 yards and scored both touchdowns in the game, as the Trojans defeated the Hoosiers 14-3.

Sniadecki later graduated from IU with a business marketing degree and was drafted in the fourth round of the 1969 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He played five years in the NFL. He said it was a big change from Big Ten football.

“Everything is so much quicker there,” Sniadecki said. “When you go out there as a rookie, it’s like a blur almost.”

After his NFL career ended, he stayed in the San Francisco area, with a brief stay in Hawaii while playing for the Hawaiians in the World Football League.

He has since had a number of careers from steakhouse owner to prosthetic salesman.

He still lives in California and has worked for 15 years in the security business, working with cameras and alarm systems. He said tries to keep up with IU football, but he said the lack of nationally televised games makes it difficult.

So Sniadecki reads news about the team and calls his sister, who lives in Camby, Ind. He also comes to Indiana for Thanksgiving almost every year and tries to visit campus.
He said he likes seeing the way campus has changed and usually visits his former fraternity, Beta Theta Pi.

When Athletics Director Fred Glass called him two months ago to congratulate him on earning a spot in this year’s Hall of Fame class, Sniadecki said he felt proud.

“It was an honor to be picked amongst all these people,” Sniadecki said. “They have choices of a lot of different people. It’s nice to get recognition sometimes for the things you do in life.”