Ex-Coug Coach Sweeney Injured In Auto Accident

Fresno State football coach Jim Sweeney broke his right leg and kneecap when the car he was driving Sunday night crashed into a flatbed trailer that was blocking a street.

Sweeney, the Washington State coach from 1968-75, also had bruised ribs. He was reported in stable condition at a hospital and was to undergo surgery today.

His wife, June, sustained a sprained left foot and sore ribs in the accident. She said their seat belts and air bags prevented more serious injury.

“I would think that’s what kept us from getting killed,” she said. “They say the car was absolutely demolished.”

For Jim Sweeney, the operation to set his leg is his seventh surgery in six years. He has had two back operations, two angioplasties plus prostrate and rotator cuff surgeries.

The Sweeneys were on their way home from a hospital visit when a car in front of them swerved to miss the truck that was stopped in the road with no lights, Mrs. Sweeney said. She said her husband braked but couldn’t stop in time.

The California Highway Patrol said the trailer had broken free from its cab, and the driver was reattaching it at the time of the accident.

Sweeney’s teams have won 196 games. He coached at Montana State before WSU, taking over during the mid-1970s at Fresno.