- Aldo Donelli
NFL PlayerCoach
DateOfBirth=birth date|1907|7|22|mf=y
Birthplace=South Fayette Township, Pennsylvania
DateOfDeath=death date and age|1994|8|9|1907|7|22|mf=y
Position=Defensive back Head Coach
College= Duquesne
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Retired #s=
Record=4-11
PFRCoach=
DatabaseFootballCoach=DONELBUF01
player=y
years=1941-1942 1942
teams=Pittsburgh Steelers Philadelphia Eagles
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coach=yes
coachingyears=1941 1944
coachingteams=Pittsburgh Steelers Cleveland Rams Aldo "Buff" Teo Donelli (
July 22 ,1907 —August 9 ,1994 ) was anAmerican football andsoccer player. He is a member of theNational Soccer Hall of Fame .He played
college football at Pittsburgh'sDuquesne University which he played punter and halfback in the mid 1920's. He went on to coach Duquesne University, Columbia, Boston University, and the Steelers and Rams of the NFL.Pittsburgh
In 1939 Donelli took over as head coach for his alma mater, compiling a 29-4-2 record at Duquesne as the Dukes finished in the top ten twice in 4 seasons. He tenure at his alma mater also gave him a place in the history books as the only man to serve as head coach of both a college football team and an NFL team simultaneously. Donelli served as head coach of the
Pittsburgh Steelers during the 1941 fall campaign on the bluff of Duquesne University. The Dukes were on their way to an undefeated season in 1941 and after the Steelers lost their first two games coach (and later NFL Commissioner)Bert Bell resigned, having Donelli replace him. Aldo would coach the Steelers in the morning during classes at Duquesne University and then the Dukes in the afternoon. Although his college team finished undefeated, the Steelers lost all 5 games under Donelli.Boston and Columbia
He continued on to coach at
Boston University from 1947 to 1956 with a 46-34-4 record and again placing a season in the top 25 poll. In 1957 he was named the head coach atColumbia University where he would serve until 1967 compiling a 30-76-4 record. In 1961 he coached Columbia to its onlyIvy League Championship.Other accomplishments
Donelli was drafted into the Navy for a short time during the last year of World War II. He also coached in the NFL for the Cleveland Rams (today's St. Louis Rams) for a single season (1944) attaining a 4-6 record. In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s after semi-retiring from coaching, he worked in public relations for PGA events around Boston while keeping homes in suburban Pittsburgh and then eventually Florida.
Honors
Columbia University 's weight room is named in Donelli's honor.occer career
Donelli also was a
soccer player. He was selected for the United States1934 FIFA World Cup team. In Italy he scored four goals against Mexico in the qualifying game and the lone U.S. goal against Italy in the first round. He was inducted into U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1954.Trivia
*He is the only man to coach both a Division I college football program and an NFL team during the same season.
*He was the only American to score a goal in the 1934 World Cup--against Italy. It would be the last goal any American scored on Italian turf for another 58 years.External links
* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol20/vol20_iss1/record2001.34.html Columbia University obit of Donelli]
* [http://www.soccerhall.org/famers/aldo_donelli.htm Aldo Donelli's page at the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame]
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