Joseph Bruce McGonnigal (born May 1, 1968) is an American former professionalfootballtight end on theUniversity of Virginiafootball team, and was astarter at the position in 1989 and 1990. In 1989, he set an ACC record for receiving yards by a tight end in a single season, with 634.^[1]

McGonnigal playedhigh school football atLoyola High School where he helped the Dons end a long losing streak to archrivalCalvert Hall in the annualTurkey Bowl game his senior year. MCGonnigal graduated in 1986.

McGonnigal has become an integral part of football folklore at the University of Virginia, where many fans tell varying accounts of how McGonnigal was injured while searching for his girlfriend's dog, some time prior to the game againstGeorgia Tech in1990. McGonnigal ruptured hisspleen and received aconcussion from the fall incurred during the nighttime search. The spleen injury sidelined him for the rest of the 1990 season. At the time of the accident, theVirginia Cavaliers football team was ranked #1 in both major polls. Without McGonnigal, the Cavaliers fell to eventualNCAA champion Georgia Tech, 41–38. Late in the game, with the Cavaliers trailing 38–35,quarterbackShawn Moore threw what would've been a go-aheadtouchdownpass to new starting tight end Aaron Mundy; however, the play was overturned because a back-up tight end had not come onto the field causing there a penalty for too few players on theline of scrimmage. CoachGeorge Welsh then elected to kick a tyingfield goal, but the Yellow Jackets then drove for the winning field goal. Many University of Virginia football fans speculate that had McGonnigal never been injured, the Virginia Cavaliers might have gone on to win at least a share of the NCAA national championship.^[2]

McGonnigal was selected in1991 by thePittsburgh Steelers in the ninth round, but ended up with theCleveland Browns, where he saw little playing time and closed out his brief NFL career.^[3][4]

McGonnigal took up a career in political campaign management after leaving the NFL.^[5]

• 1968 births
• Living people
• Players of American football from Cambridge, Massachusetts
• American football tight ends
• Virginia Cavaliers football players
• Cleveland Browns players
• Sportspeople from Towson, Maryland
• Players of American football from Baltimore County, Maryland

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
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