Harry William Connolly (July 16, 1920 January 14, 2006), also known as Mickey Connolly, 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 ...

halfback,

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

, and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. After his playing career, Connolly served as a head football coach with his most notable tenure being that as head coach at

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...

Early life

Connolly was born in

Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...

, in 1920 and attended Norwalk High School. He played high school football at Norwalk under Frank Leahy, who coached on a part-time basis while serving as the line coach at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. When Leahy became the head coach at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, he recruited Connolly to play for him there.

Career

Connolly followed Leahy and played college football for the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

from 1940 to 1942. He was a versatile player known for his speed as a runner, passing ability, kicking, and also his propensity for intercepting passes on defense. In November 1942, ''The Boston Globe'' called him "B. C.'s best all-round athlete, most versatile football player". Connolly was selected by the Steagles in the fifth round (37th overall pick) of the

1943 NFL Draft The 1943 National Football League Draft was held on April 8, 1943, at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Detroit Lions selected running back Frank Sinkwich. This draft is the first NFL draf ...

, but he never played in the NFL. Instead, he served in the Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was assigned to the North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters football team. After the war, Connolly played in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

for the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

in 1946. He appeared in three games, two of them as a starter, and rushed for 18 yards on eight carries and completed two passes for 29 yards. After his playing career, Connolly became a coach at the high school and college level. In 1948 he coached at Notre Dame High School in West Haven, Connecticut and then served as head coach at The Aquinas Institute of Rochester in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

from 1949 to 1952. Connolly next served as backfield coach at

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

before he was hired as head coach at Xavier in January 1955. Connolly served as head coach of the Musketeers from 1955 to 1958 and complied an overall record of 24–15, but he subsequently resigned in June 1959.

Death

Connolly died in 2006 in

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Harry 1920 births 2006 deaths American football fullbacks American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks Brooklyn Dodgers (AAFC) players Boston College Eagles football players Indiana Hoosiers football coaches High school football coaches in Connecticut High school football coaches in New York (state) Xavier Musketeers football coaches United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II Sportspeople from Norwalk, Connecticut Players of American football from Fairfield County, Connecticut Coaches of American football from Connecticut Military personnel from Connecticut