Holland Donan (June 24, 1928 – March 4, 2014) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, graduating in 1951. He was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1984. Holland Donan was called the best tackle he ever coached by

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

coach

Charlie Caldwell Charles William Caldwell (August 2, 1901 – November 1, 1957) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Williams College for 15 seasons between 1928 and 1944 and at Princeton Un ...

. According to Caldwell, Donan's size, tremendous speed and uncanny ability to foresee enemy moves were what made him stand out among the nation's football athletes. Head line coach

Dick Colman Richard Whiting Colman Jr. (November 11, 1914 – April 5, 1982) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Princeton University from 1957 to 1968, compiling a record of 75–33. Colman had been the assista ...

praised him for giving his teammates pep talks and boosting morale. In 1950, Donan led the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

to the Lambert Trophy and their first perfect record in 15 seasons. The 6–5, 230- pound bruiser helped arouse his team to a second half come- from-behind win that wiped out a 14-7

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

lead. Princeton won, 20–14. Donan missed only two minutes on defense that season, and was named Lineman-of- the-Year as well as New Jersey's outstanding athlete. Donan graduated from Princeton in the spring of 1951 with a degree in history, married the same year and entered the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

where he served in the

Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Qua ...

. When his military service obligation was over he entered the life insurance business, eventually opening two offices in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donan, Hollie 1928 births Sportspeople from Montclair, New Jersey Players of American football from Essex County, New Jersey American football defensive tackles Princeton Tigers football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees 2014 deaths United States Army soldiers