George Donnelly (September 4, 1942 – November 22, 2022) was an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for three seasons for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. At the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, he and

Dick Butkus Richard Marvin Butkus (born December 9, 1942) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, and actor. He played football as a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1965 to ...

were co-captains for the 1963 season, and Donnelly tied the NCAA record of 8 interceptions in one season. Illinois played in the 50th Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 1964, against the Washington Huskies. Donnelly had two interceptions in this game, both setting up Illini touchdowns. The first came in the third quarter, allowing Illinois to score their first touchdown of the game. Then in the fourth quarter, with Illinois up by a score of 10-7, Washington was driving downfield, trying to score a go-ahead and possible game-winning touchdown, but Donnelly intercepted the ball on the 4-yard line and ran it back to the 15. This game-saving interception allowed Illinois to capitalize on that momentum and move the ball 85 yards, scoring their second touchdown of the game to put Illinois ahead 17-7. Donnelly spent his years at the

living in the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House with 6 of his teammates; Doug Mills, David Cade, Robert Cravens, David Mueller, Bill Sullivan, and David Crouse. Donnelly died on November 22, 2022, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, George 1942 births 2022 deaths American football cornerbacks Illinois Fighting Illini football players Players of American football from Chicago San Francisco 49ers players