Charles James "Chuck" Cherundolo, Jr. (born August 8, 1916) is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player and coach. He played center

Center (American football)

Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...

 and linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 for ten seasons in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 (NFL) with the Cleveland Rams

Cleveland Rams

The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio.The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland, Ohio. The NFL considers the franchise as a second incarnation of the previous Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the second American Football League...

, Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...

. He was born in Old Forge, Pennsylvania

Old Forge, Pennsylvania

Old Forge, Pennsylvania may refer to:* Old Forge, Franklin County, Pennsylvania* Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania...

.

Playing career

Cherundolo played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Penn State

Penn State Nittany Lions football

The Penn State Nittany Lions football team represents the Pennsylvania State University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference. It is one of the most tradition-rich and storied college football programs in the...

, where he was a voted a team captain

Captain (sports)

In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...

 in 1936. He was named All-America

All-America

An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

 at Penn State. He went on to play ten seasons in the NFL.

Coaching career

He he was hired by the Steelers as an assistant coach upon the end of his playing career. He coached with the Steelers through . He coached a total of 22 years in the NFL with four teams.

Awards and Honors

Cherundolo was selected to two NFL All-Star Teams during his playing career. He was named second-team All-NFL

All-Pro

All-Pro is a term mostly used in the NFL for the best players of each position during that season. It began as polls of sportswriters in the early 1920s...

 in three seasons.

In 2007, as part of the team's 75th anniversary commemoration, the Steelers named him as the center on their Legends team

Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team

The Pittsburgh Steelers Legends team represents the franchise's best players from the pre-1970 era. The team was chosen by a small group of Steeler officials and journalists and presented as a part of the Steeler's 75th season celebration in ....

. The team represents the best players in the franchise's history through 1970.

Personal

Cherundolo married Margaret Whitehead; the couple had two children, May and John. Both his son and grandson played football at the Division I level. As of May 2011, he is the fifth-oldest living professional football player.