John Raymond "Dinny" McNamara (September 16, 1905 – December 20, 1963) 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 ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player and coach. He served as the head football 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 ...

for the first four games of the 1935 season, compiling a record of 3–1. He briefly played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

with the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

in 1927 and 1928.

Baseball career

After graduating from Boston College in June 1927, McNamara signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

. He made his major league debut on July 2, 1927. In two seasons with the Braves, he played in 20 games, mostly as a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

, had one hit in 13 at-bats for a batting average of .077, and scored five runs. He also spent time with the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leagu ...

of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

. In 1929, he played for Osterville of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

Coaching career

McNamara was the backfield 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 ...

under Frank Cavanaugh from 1927 to 1932. In 1933, he served as an assistant to

Joe McKenney Joseph McKenney (March 1, 1905 – May 17, 1995) was an American football player, coach, and official. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 1928 to 1934, compiling a record of 44–18–3. McKenney also played at Boston Coll ...

at Boston College. McNamara became head football coach at Boston College in 1935 after McKenney resigned to accept the post of associate director of

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

in the Boston public school system. Midway through the 1935 season, McNamara resigned due to a "nervous ailment" and was replaced by

Harry Downes Henry J. Downes (August 3, 1910 – February 5, 1970) was an American football player and coach. Playing career An All-American at Boston College, his football playing career ended in 1931 due to an injury suffered against Holy Cross. In 193 ...

. His record at head coach was 3–1. McNamara also served as the freshman baseball coach at Boston College. He was killed on December 20, 1963 when he was hit by a car while walking near his home.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNamara, Dinny 1905 births 1963 deaths American football quarterbacks Major League Baseball outfielders Boston Braves players Boston College Eagles baseball coaches Boston College Eagles baseball players Boston College Eagles football coaches Boston College Eagles football players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Hyannis Harbor Hawks players Fordham Rams football coaches Providence Grays (minor league) players People from Lexington, Massachusetts Players of American football from Massachusetts Baseball players from Massachusetts Pedestrian road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Massachusetts Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts