RIP Art Donovan

Art was a colorful character. I'm trying to think of a present day counterpart. Maybe Tony Siragusa? I don't know. The NFL is so corporate nowadays.
 
He was a bit before my time, but his interviews, stories, and quotes were awesome. RIP Art. Need more like him nowadays!
 
When I saw the Colts play on TV circa 1960, Gino Marchetti and Big Daddy Lipscomb were showier. Donovan jammed the middle.

Art Donovan gave some colorful quotes on a HBO History of the NFL special which got him noticed in the early 80's.
 
Art for a rather long period of time was a regular guest on The Tonight Show back in the Johnny Carson era, and I think also in the early years of The Late Show with David Letterman. Guess you could say he was football's equivalent of former baseball player Bob Uecker. He specialized in telling stories from his NFL playing days in the 1950s. Art Donovan was funny and had a self-deprecating sense of humor.
 
Donovan's soundbite stories were quite a fixture on the Baltimore stations.

IIRC his father (Arthur Sr.) was a boxing referee and worked the bout at Yankee Stadium where Max Schmeling ko'd Joe Louis in 1936.

RIP, Art.

John
 
foreverfree said:
Donovan's soundbite stories were quite a fixture on the Baltimore stations.

IIRC his father (Arthur Sr.) was a boxing referee and worked the bout at Yankee Stadium where Max Schmeling ko'd Joe Louis in 1936.

RIP, Art.

John
Click to expand...

Arthur Donovan Sr. worked a huge number of Louis' fights, including his 1-round KO of Schmeling in 1938.

Donovan Sr. was even sometimes called "Joe Louis' referee," which Donovan very much disliked.
 
I miss the old time football players like Donovan. I remember his appearance on the old Nickelodeon show Pete & Pete. One of the brothers Pete made a comment saying the first three letters in Johnny Unitas's last name were the same as the first three letters in universe. Donovan, said "The first three letters in my last name are the first three letters in Donut, and you don't see me making a big deal about it" Classic stuff!
 
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