Baltimore Colts Hall of Famer defensive tackle Art Donovon passed away Sunday night of a respiratory ailment. He was 89 years old. His daughter Kelly Donovan-Mazzulli said he was surrounded by family members and his wife was with him to his last breath.
He is a member of the 1950s All-Decade Team and played a very prominent part in Baltimore’s titles in 1958 and 1959. He was All-NFL player from 1954-1957 and selected for the Pro Bowl from 1953-1957. He was very quick for a very large man. His weight was usually between 270-300 pounds. From the Baltimore Sun:
“He was always the hardest tackle for me to block,” the Chicago Bears’ Stan Jones once told The Sun. Jones, a Hall of Fame lineman who’d played at the University of Maryland, called No. 70 “the smartest tackle I ever faced. He was quick, like a matador. He’d move one way and go the other.”
His autobiography, Fatso, made him very popular. He appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” ten times and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” where everyone fell in love with his self-deprecating humor.
He is survived by his sister Joan Elizabeth Donovan and wife Dorothy in addition to six children and seven grandchildren.
Read more at The Baltimore Sun.