TULSA, Okla. -- Tulsa petroleum marketer and former University of Tulsa football player Neal Sweeney, 63, has died after being shot Thursday at his office, reported The Tulsa World. As of Friday, police have not made any arrests since the shooting at Retail Fuels Marketing LLC, at approximately 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Witnesses told police a man walked into the business and into an office area, where he shot Sweeney, the company's president and COO, in the head.
Police don't know whether the gunman was a former employee of the business, but he acted as if he knew where he was going, witnesses [image-nocss] said.
A native of Van Nuys, Calif., Sweeney played wingback for the University of Tulsa's football team in 1965 and '66 and ranked third nationally as a pass receiver his junior year.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the Sweeney family," Don Tomkalski, director of TU athletic media relations, told the newspaper. "Neal was an ambassador for the University of Tulsa, and he will be missed."
After graduating from college, he was a sixth-round pick in the NFL draft and played one season for the Denver Broncos in 1967. He was inducted into TU's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996, said the report.
Sweeney has been a businessman for more than 30 years, mostly in Tulsa. His company, Retail Fuels Marketing, markets fuel in northeastern Oklahoma. He previously was executive vice president for RMC-7/Eleven and Oklahoma president of Fastop convenience stores before taking over Retail Fuels in 2003.
He also had worked for Fuel Man of Oklahoma, Sooner Suds, MidContinent Casualty Co. and PEMCO and was a part-owner of the Fast Breakers, Tulsa's Continental Basketball Association franchise in the late '80s and early '90s.
CSP sends condolences to his family, his friends and his colleagues.
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