News Obituaries |

Kevin O’ Sweeny, standout high school athlete and beloved Baltimore bartender, dies

Kevin O’ Sweeny, a fixture on the Baltimore hospitality scene for decades with a legion of friends, died of undetermined causes June 14 at his Cedarcroft home. He was 75.

“Kevin was a great bartender and people loved him and loved watching him work,” said William “Billy” Shriver, a retired Baltimore restaurateur and childhood friend.

“He was hilarious and a good Samaritan. If you needed help, Kevin was always there for you,” Mr. Shriver said. “Kevin didn’t have friends; he had best friends.”

Candy Carson was one of them for 50 years.

“He was like a little brother to me. He was the sweetest guy who was always doing something for everyone else and never himself,” Ms. Carson said. “That’s why he had so many friends.”

Kevin O’Neil Sweeny, son of J. Sarsfield “Sy” Sweeny, a lawyer, and Gloria Mellier Sweeny, a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park. An athlete, he was a catcher for the Roland Park Little League’s Tigers.

“That’s where I got to know Kevin when we were 10 years old and playing for the Roland Park Little League, and later in life he became my son’s godfather,” Mr. Shriver said.

In the fall of 1961, Mr. Sweeny arrived on the campus of Boys’ Latin School, where he was a “leader on and off the field,” according to a statement announcing his death.

Mr. Sweeny was class vice president his sophomore year and a student council member his senior year.

Extracurricular activities included the debate club and the student newspaper. But it was his prowess on the athletic fields that earned him the accolade of “one of BL’s best all-around three sports athletes ever,” according to the school’s announcement.

He was voted the class of 1966’s best athlete, earning eight varsity letters, three in football, three in basketball and two in lacrosse.

What he lacked in height, he made up with a determined enthusiasm, and he was considered as “tough as they come.” When he played junior varsity football as an eighth grader, he barely weighed 100 pounds.

In 1964, he was a defensive back on the Lakers’ undefeated football team. The next year, he was team captain and stepped in as quarterback after another player was injured. For his efforts as the signal caller, he was named to the All-Private School second team by The News American.

During his basketball career his junior and senior years, he was one of the team’s leading scorers. His exploits included a 28-point effort against St. Paul’s.

He was also one of the leading scorers on the 1963 freshman lacrosse team that finished 9-0. As a varsity player, he played midfield and attack.

“He started both his junior and senior years, helping BL to an overall 19-1 record against high school competition, including a perfect 10-0 record in 1966, the year Boys’ Latin won its second MSA [Maryland Scholastic Association] title in three years,” according to the school announcement.

He was later named second team ALL-MSA lacrosse by The Sun and News American.

“He was just a fabulous athlete, even though he was the smallest guy on the Tigers,” Mr. Shriver said.

After graduating from BL in 1966, he attended the University of Maryland, College Park.
Mr. Sweeny returned to Baltimore and began his long career in the hospitality business when he went to work in the early 1970s as a bartender at The Crease in Towson.

“We worked together as bartenders at The Crease in 1979 and into the early 1980s. He was a mentor to me when I was coming up as a bartender and was really a great teacher,” said Jay Teramni, a manager at the Thames Street Oyster House. “His bartending style was just terrific.”

When the founder Richard “Richie’ Evans opened a downtown edition of The Crease, Mr. Sweeny worked there.

Subsequent venues included the Grill at Harryman House in Reisterstown, which Mr. Shriver opened in the 1980s, and later at Tark’s Grill in Green Spring Station in Lutherville, from which he retired some years ago.

He also owned a house painting business and at times worked in the thoroughbred racing industry at tracks from Saratoga Springs, New York, to Florida, family members said.

“He was known among his friends as a premier handicapper who loved to study the horses and play the odds,” said his niece, Marny Helfrich, of Columbia.

One of his greatest achievements was overcoming alcoholism.

“We met at college and were in the same fraternity and we stayed close friends,” John Kousouris said.

“The biggest thing Kevin did was to stop drinking 45 years ago. He stayed on a straight-and-even keel and he helped a lot of people get into rehab,” he said.

“He knew how to do it and he knew the steps, and he’d go and help people, no matter what the time of day or night,” Mr. Kousouris said. “He had a way about him and people just liked Kevin.”

A celebration-of-life gathering is private.

In addition to his niece, Mr. Sweeny is survived by two sisters, Frances “Franky” Sweeny Helfrich, of Towson, and Ann Louise “Lucky” Sweeny, of Santa Barbara, California; and a great-niece.