DATE:     12/15/97
CONTACT:  James Sweeney, (803) 623-2134
WRITER:   Tom Lollis, (803) 284-3343

Sweeney Wins Clemson Extension Alumni Award

     CHESTERFIELD -- His father was a preacher, and the lessons
James Sweeney learned at his feet boiled down to two words --
"Help others."
     Sweeney has helped others for 27 years with the Clemson
University Cooperative Extension Service, and for that effort he
has been honored with the Alumni Award for Cooperative Extension
Distinguished Public Service. Sweeney, the first African-American
recipient of the award, received it during the Dec. 15 Clemson
faculty meeting.
     The cluster director for the counties of Chesterfield,
Marlboro and Dillon, Sweeney joined Extension as a county agent
in Chesterfield on May 1, 1970. He became a county director in
1986, and was named to his present position in 1993.
     "James has given leadership to housing, agriculture, 4-H,
forestry and community development programs in his cluster, and
provided a link between rural communities and the outreach
programs of Clemson University," said Carol Webb, interim
director of field operations for Clemson Extension.
     She praised Sweeney for his efforts in the early 1970s to
educate limited resource families about housing opportunities
under federal programs. She also noted his success in developing
a vegetable production and marketing program and in establishing
a farmer's market in Cheraw. In addition, he has organized
associations for Christmas tree growers and forest landowners,
and has headed a 4-H program that has produced several state
winners who have gone on to national competitions.
     Recently he has worked with community leaders in Clio,
Patrick, Cheraw and Latta to link them with the College of
Architecture, Arts and Humanities through an outreach program
headed by Bob Bainbridge.
     "James was the first Extension cluster director to realize
the potential that our design services could mean to his
counties," Bainbridge said.
     Sweeney set up a program for community leaders to hear
Bainbridge. By the fall of 1995, a beautification plan and a park
plan for Patrick and a citywide enhancement plan for Cheraw
were begun.
     Students under Bainbridge's supervision have also done
designs for McBee and Marlboro County and made plans for a
five-acre park expansion in Latta. Groundwork has also been done
for projects in Chesterfield, Pageland and Clio.
     "Out of 40 projects we have undertaken in 28 counties across
the state, by far the most successful results have come in James'
cluster," Bainbridge said.
     W.C. Hoffman, mayor of Patrick, says Sweeney is very 
deserving of the Alumni Award. 
     "He has always assisted us by getting us on the right
track," Hoffman said.
     Sweeney married the former Gladys Streater of Patrick in
1973. They have a son, James N. Jr., a third-year engineering
student at Clemson, and a daughter, Shalah Shebonique, a senior
at Cheraw High.
     In addition to his Clemson Extension duties, Sweeney is
active in community life. He has been on the school board in
Chesterfield County since 1985, and served for four years as its
chairman.
     Sweeney is a deacon and serves as superintendent of Sunday
schools for the Pee Dee Union Baptist Church in Cheraw, and is a
member of the Chesterfield branch of the NAACP. He is also active
with the Cheraw Rotary Club, the Rural Water Board, the Boys &
Girls Club and the Cheraw Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
He has previously served with the Cheraw Recreation Commission,
the Cheraw High Band Boosters Club and the Academic Club at the
local high school.
     He helped organize a community baseball league for adults
not long after coming to Chesterfield County, and played first
base or catcher for 12 years. The league has now expanded to
include surrounding counties.
    Sweeney is the second of four children raised on a small farm 
of less than 20 acres in the Reedy Fork area of Greenville County
near Simpsonville. Farm life established a strong work ethic in him.
His father, U.S.G. Sweeney II, and his mother, Emma Elizabeth,
instilled the values of honesty and integrity.
     "I grew up in a service family," he said. "We were taught to
help others."
     He graduated from Bryson High School at Fountain Inn in 1964,
then went on to S.C. State University, as his two brothers and his
sister did. He earned a B.S. degree in agricultural education in
1968. He also earned an M.S. degree from Appalachian State
University in 1982 and has taken several graduate courses in
agricultural production at Clemson.
     Sweeney taught school for a year in Latta, then worked for a
year in private industry before receiving a job offer from Clemson
Extension in March 1970.
     "I started to work May 1, and in June the Farmer's Home
Administration offered me a job that paid $1,000 more. Then, in July
the Soil Conservation Service made an offer," he recalled. 
     He discussed the situation with his father, who served as a
minister when he wasn't farming or working as a counselor for
Woodside Mills.
     "He always taught his children to finish any job we start and
to do it well. He said I should at least stay long enough to earn a
good reference, instead of jumping from job to job," Sweeney said.
     He's thankful that he followed his father's advice.
                       END