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Pat Donnelly, legendary football and lacrosse player at Navy, dies at age 77

Skip Orr will never forget the time he first met Pat Donnelly. Both high school seniors were on official weekend visits to the Naval Academy during the spring of 1961.

In those days, recruits stayed at the visiting team dormitory on the campus of the Naval Academy. Orr was checking into the dorm and the only other recruit there was Donnelly.

That was an early hint at the trademark humility of Donnelly, whose prowess on both sides of the ball made him one of the greatest players in Navy football history. The Ohio native was such a superior athlete he picked up lacrosse while at Navy and became an All-American in that sport as well.