He played college football at the University of Notre Dame as a wide receiver and was a consensus first-team All-American in 1974.

[1] Demmerle was a member of the national championship team of 1973 which defeated top-ranked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

A year earlier, he scored Notre Dame's only touchdown in the Orange Bowl; he was selected in the thirteenth round of the 1975 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers.

[2] Demmerle graduated from Fordham University School of Law and worked in the insurance practice group at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae.

[3] He died in 2007 at age 53, after an eight-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig's disease.