Photos: Arizona Wildcats All-American Chuck Cecil through the years
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Rick Wiley
Photo editor
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Former University of Arizona football player and All-American safety Chuck Cecil was named the UA defensive coordinator. A walk-on freshman, he became arguably a living legend for UA football fans.
At the conclusion of Cecil’s Arizona career, he was selected one of the NCAA’s Top VI scholar-athlete winners. He was drafted into the NFL and played for the Green Bay Packers, (then Phoenix) Cardinals and Houston Oilers. He was a defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator in the NFL for 15 years.
Cecil was inducted into the Wildcats Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
Cecil was named defensive backs coach for the Arizona Wildcats for the 2021 football season.
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University of Arizona safety Chuck Cecil at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles during the UCLA game in 1986.
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Chuck Cecil, former Wildcat safety and newly-minted director of player development, looks on during the first University of Arizona Wildcats football practice of the season at Sancet Stadium on July 31, 2017, in Tucson, Ariz.
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University of Arizona safety Chuck Cecil, left, at the 1986 Aloha Bowl. Athletic director Cedric Dempsey is in the center of the photo.
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University of Arizona head coach Larry Smith with Arizona safety Chuck Cecil after the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu on Dec. 27, 1986.
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UA football player Chuck Cecil celebrates with the crowd after the team defeated the ASU Sun Devils in 1986.
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UA's Chuck Cecil (6) races out of the ASU end zone en route to a 106-yard interception for a TD in the 4th quarter on Nov. 22, 1986. Photo by Bruce McClelland / Arizona Daily Star
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UA's Chuck Cecil (6) races out of the ASU end zone en route to a 106-yard interception for a TD in the 4th quarter on Nov. 22, 1986. Photo by Bruce McClelland / Arizona Daily Star
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Chuck Cecil, UA football defensive back. Arizona Daily Star file photo
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UA football player Chuck Cecil at Camp Cochise in 1987.
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Arizona All-American safety Chuck Cecil sits dejected on the sidelines of the Rose Bowl stadium in 1986 after UCLA defeated the Wildcats on a late-game 75-yard drive. The loss kept Arizona from playing in the Rose Bowl Game later that season. Arizona’s forever drive to celebrate New Year’s in Pasadena will be left behind when the Wildcats formally leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12 in 2024
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Chuck Cecil during his time as a coach with the Titans. Photo credit: Donn Jones Photography
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Chuck Cecil, University of Arizona safety 1984-87, reacts after receiving his Hall of Fame jacket during the Hall Enshrinement Festival Saturday July 17, 2010 in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
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FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2009 file photo, Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil looks on during NFL football training camp in Nashville, Tenn. Cecil, who replaced Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator for the Titans when Schwartz became Detroit's new head coach, was a hard-hitting safety when he played in the NFL. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
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Tennessee Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck (53) talks with defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil, center, and head coach Jeff Fisher, right, in the second quarter of an NFL football game in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
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Line judge Shannon Eastin, left, the first woman to be an official in a regular-season NFL football game, listens to St. Louis Rams secondary coach Chuck Cecil during the second half of a game against the Detroit Lions Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
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Former Arizona Wildcats head coach Dick Tomey, left, chats with Chuck Cecil, his former player and current defensive staff analyst, and current head coach Kevin Sumlin during the University of Arizona Wildcats football team practice in Arizona Stadium on Aug. 8, 2018, in Tucson, Ariz.
Rick Wiley
Photo editor
As featured on
Star columnist Greg Hansen checks in ahead of Saturday afternoon's game between the UA and Oregon State.
Chuck Cecil has officially joined the Arizona Wildcats coaching staff as a position coach.
