 Donnelly at Princeton | |
| Profile | |
|---|---|
| Positions | End,tackle,guard,halfback |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1869-10-18)October 18, 1869 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 3, 1922(1922-08-03) (aged 52) New York City, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| College | Princeton |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| 1890–1891 | Chicago All-University |
| 1891 | Manhattan Athletic Club |
| 1892–1893 | Chicago Athletic Association |
| 1892–1894 | Allegheny Athletic Association |
| 1893 | Cleveland Athletic Club |
| 1895 | Seattle Athletic Club |
| 1896 | Chicago Athletic Association |
| 1896 | Allegheny Athletic Association |
Coaching | |
| 1891–1892 | Purdue (assistant) |
| 1893 | Iowa |
| 1893 | Allegheny Athletic Association |
| 1893 | Cleveland Athletic Club |
| 1895 | Illinois (assistant) |
| 1895 | Seattle Athletic Club |
| 1896 | Racine Athletic Association |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
Benjamin Shenstone "Sport" Donnelley (commonly spelledDonnelly;[a] October 18, 1869 – August 3, 1922) was an Americanfootball player and coach. He was the second-known professional player in the sport's history, having been paid to play a game in 1892 for theAllegheny Athletic Association—just one week after the same team hiredPudge Heffelfinger for a game. In the next year Donnelly was hired by the Allegheny Athletic Association asplayer-coach, making him the first man to ever coach a known professional football team. A starend in his college days atPrinceton, he went on to play for several athletic clubs during the 1890s and was reputed for his rough style of play and for antagonizing opposing players.
Donnelly served as the second head football coach at theUniversity of Iowa, holding the post for two weeks to open the 1893 season; the team finished with a record of 3–4.
Donnelly played his only year ofcollege football atPrinceton University. He was anend on the school's1889 football team that was retroactively recognized as the year'snational champion. He was named as a substitute on the first-everAll-America team in 1889; the top honors at the end position went to Yale'sAmos Alonzo Stagg and Harvard'sArthur Cumnock.[2] In the opinion ofJohn Heisman, Donnelly was the best end in football that year.[3]
After college, Donnelly returned to his hometown of Chicago, playing in 1890 for the Chicago All-University team alongside recent Princeton teammateKnowlton Ames.[4] Donnelly played for theManhattan Athletic Club for part of 1891, but returned to the All-University (at times called the Chicago University Club)[5] team for its annual Thanksgiving game.[6] In 1892, he became one of the original members of theChicago Athletic Association football team organized byBilly Crawford around a core of former University Club players.[7][8]
Somewhat contrary to his nickname, Donnelly had a reputation forunsportsmanlike conduct on the field.Pudge Heffelfinger once said that Donnelly was the only man that he had played against who "could slug you and at the same time keep his eyes on the ball".[9] One reported tactic involved deliberately striking an opponent and then alerting the referee to watch that player; when the opponent retaliated under the referee's observation, the player would be ejected. In a Chicago Athletic Association game against Brooklyn'sCrescent Athletic Club in 1892, the Crescents refused to play unless Donnelly was excluded from the lineup, citing alleged rough tactics from his time with the Manhattan Athletic Club the previous year. Chicago agreed to bench Donnelly, causing him to quit the team in anger.[10]
Shortly after his split from the Chicago Athletic Association, he and his recent Chicago teammates Pudge Heffelfinger andWilliam C. Malley were enlisted by theAllegheny Athletic Association for a game on November 12, 1892 against Allegheny's main rival, thePittsburgh Athletic Club. Heffelfinger was the only one of the three "ringers" who received payment ($500) for his play that day, but Donnelly became the second professional a week later when Allegheny paid him $250 for a game againstWashington & Jefferson College.[10] Donnelly rejoined Allegheny in 1893 as player-coach, and because the team then had at least three paid players on its roster, he has been credited as the first coach of a known professional football team.[11] He would return again to Allegheny as a player in 1894 and 1896.[12][13]
Donnelly was a frequent jumper from team to team. Just in 1893, he played for the Chicago Athletic Association in late August and September,[14][15][16] coached Iowa in late September–early October, played again with Chicago on October 14,[17] commenced as player-coach for the Allegheny Athletic Association in the following week,[18] and afterAllegheny's season was over in late November, coached and played two games for theCleveland Athletic Club.[19][20][21] He repeatedly switched positions as well during that time, taking turns at end,[14] halfback, tackle, and guard.[22]
Donnelly went toSeattle in 1895, where he coached and played for the Seattle Athletic Club. He drew a formal protest from thePort Townsend team, which contended that Donnelly, as an allegedly paid coach, should have been prohibited by amateur rules from playing.[23]
In October 1896, Donnelly was splitting his time between coaching for the Racine Athletic Association of Wisconsin and playing for the Chicago AA.[24] The ChicagoInter Ocean noted that he had gained a substantial amount of weight since his time at Princeton,[25] but that even a "fat and out of condition" Donnelly was "a tower of strength to the C. A. A. line."[26] At some point during the same season, Allegheny asked him if he and any of the Chicago players might be interested in playing for pay. The Alleghenys were then told that more than half of the Chicago players would be willing to come to Pittsburgh as soon as their team finished its traditional eastern tour. Donnelly himself took part in the second of the two games played bythat season's Allegheny team, which has been called the first completely professional football team.[13]
In 1891, he was made an assistant coach atPurdue University by his friend and former Princeton teammateKnowlton Ames. Under Ames and Donnelly, Purdue would go 12–0 over the next two seasons. In 1891 while posting a 4–0 record, the team outscored its opponents 192–0. Then again in 1892, while posting an 8–0 record, the team outscored its opponents 320–24. Ames and Donnelly left the school in 1892.[27]
Donnelly was the second-ever head football coach at theUniversity of Iowa, serving only briefly to assemble and prepare the team forits 1893 season. He took charge of the Hawkeyes on September 28[28] and remained with them two weeks,[29] during which they won their opening game againstCoe College. Unlike his predecessorEdwin A. Dalton, Donnelly was generally disliked by the Hawkeye players.
In 1895 before heading west to join the Seattle Athletic Club, he briefly assistedGeorge Huff in coaching theUniversity of Illinois team.[30][31]
Donnelly became an accomplished competitivetrap shooter. At age 50, he traveled toAntwerp, Belgium as a member of the U.S. trap team at the1920 Summer Olympics.[32] Although initially named a participant in the Olympicteam trap event and a reserve for theindividual trap event,[33] he was reported as a reserve when the team event began[34] and is not recorded as having competed in either event.[35] The American team dominated the competition, taking team gold and all three individual medals.[35] Later in the same year, Donnelly won the Westy Hogan amateur trap shooting championship inAtlantic City, New Jersey, breaking 99 of 100 targets "in the face of a deceptive wind".[36] He had previously won the same title in 1917 with a perfect score of 100 straight breaks.[37]
Donnelly's father was Richard Robert Donnelley, who founded theR. R. Donnelley & Sons printing and publishing company. Older brothers Reuben H. Donnelley (founder of theR. H. Donnelley Company) and Thomas E. Donnelley were also prominent in the printing and publishing industry.
Donnelly was a friend of rail and coal heirHarry Kendall Thaw, who fatally shot the architectStanford White, a former lover of Thaw's wifeEvelyn Nesbit.[38] Sport was played in a bit part byAinslie Pryor in a 1955 movie based on the scandal,The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.[39]
Donnelly died inManhattan on August 3, 1922, after a year's illness.[40][32]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa Hawkeyes(Western Interstate University Football Association)(1893) | |||||||||
| 1893 | Iowa | 3–4 | 1–2 | T–3rd | |||||
| Iowa: | 3–4 | 1–2 | |||||||
| Total: | 3–4 | ||||||||
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