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Art "The Bulldog" Donovan
Art donovan
Date of birth: (1924-06-05) June 5, 1924 (age 99)
Place of birth: Bronx, New York, United States
Career information
Weight: 263 lb (119 kg)
NFL Draft: 1947 / Round: 22 / Pick: 204
Organizations
 As player:
1950
1951
1952
1953-1961
Baltimore Colts
New York Yanks
Dallas Texans
Baltimore Colts
Career highlights and awards

Playing stats at NFL.com
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1968
Military service
Allegiance: United States United States
Service/branch: U.S. Marines seal U.S. Marine Corps
Battles/wars: World War II
  • Battle of Luzon
  • Battle of Iwo Jima

Arthur "The Bulldog" Donovan, Jr. (born June 5, 1924) is a former American football defensive tackle, better known as Art Donovan, who played for three National Football League teams, most notably the Baltimore Colts. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Biography[]

Early life[]

He is the son of Arthur Donovan, Sr., a famed boxing referee, and the grandson of Professor Mike Donovan, the world middleweight boxing champion in the 1870s.

Art attended Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx. He spent four years in military service with the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He was stationed in the Pacific Theatre and took part in some of the conflict's fiercest engagements - such as the Battle of Luzon and the Battle of Iwo Jima. After the war, he played college football at Boston College and graduated in 1950.

Professional football career[]

In each of his first three seasons, Donovan played for a team which went out of business. He started out with the first Baltimore Colts, who folded after his rookie season in 1950, followed by the New York Yanks in 1951, and their successor, the Dallas Texans, in 1952. After the Texans franchise was moved to Baltimore in 1953 and became the second Baltimore Colts, Donovan played with that team. He became one of the stars in an outstanding defense and was selected to five straight Pro Bowls, from 1953 through 1957. The Colts won back-to-back championships in 1958 and 1959.

He was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968, the same year as Marion Motley, who was also born on June 5.

Post-playing career[]

He published an autobiography, Fatso, in 1987. He was noted as a jovial and humorous person during his playing career and capitalized on that with television and speaking appearances after retiring as a player. He owns and manages a country club near Baltimore. Donovan also appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, telling humorous stories about his old playing days and about other "old school" footballers he played with and against. He related a story that he played without a helmet and in fact is shown on football cards without a helmet. Letterman wore Donovan's No. 70 Colts jersey in the infamous Super Bowl XLI commercial with Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno.

Donovan also made a guest appearance in the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete in the episode, "Space, Geeks, and Johnny Unitas." Art also appeared as a guest commentator at the WWF 1994 King of the Ring. During the broadcast, he made several errors, asked absurd questions like "How much does this guy weigh?" and seemed to be lost throughout the night. He was so out of place, that regular announcer Gorilla Monsoon ignored him during the 2nd half of the show.

He was co-host of the popular 1990s program Braase, Donovan, Davis and Fans on WJZ-TV in Baltimore with Colt teammate Ordell Braase. The trio talked more about Art Donovan's fabled stories than contemporary NFL football, but the show held high ratings in its time period.

External links[]


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