Antone James "Andy" Pilney (January 19, 1913 – September 15, 1996) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach and player of football and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

. He played football and baseball at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

in the mid-1930s and then professional baseball from 1936 to 1939. Pilney had a three-game stint in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

with the Boston Bees in July 1936. He served as the head football coach at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

from 1954 to 1961, compiling a record of 25–49–6.

College playing career

Pilney played football as a halfback at Notre Dame. In 1935, he led the Irish to a come-from-behind win against top-ranked Ohio State in a contest considered to be a " Game of the Century". Pilney was selected by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

in the third round (26th overall pick) of the 1936 NFL Draft.

Professional baseball career

Pilney began his professional baseball career in as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. While he spent most of the season with the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in N ...

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States * Syracuse, New York ** East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

, he played three games with the Boston Bees in July. He appeared twice as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, American ...

and once as a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been subs ...

, but did not play the field. He continued to play in the minors until .

Coaching career

Pilney began his college football coaching career in 1942 when he was hired as backfield coach at Washington University in St. Louis. His final game at Tulane on November 25, 1961 resulted in a 62–0 loss to rival LSU at

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

. Pilney's successor, Tommy O'Boyle, also lost his final game at the helm of the Green Wave in 1965 to LSU by the same score, 62–0 in Baton Rouge.

Life after coaching

Following his departure from Tulane, Pilney continued to live in the New Orleans area, in the

Jefferson Parish Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

suburb of Metairie. He served three terms on the Jefferson Parish Council representing District 4 from 1964 to 1976.

Head coaching record

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilney, Andy 1913 births 1996 deaths American football halfbacks Baseball outfielders Boston Bees players Columbia Senators players Erie Sailors players Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers football coaches Hartford Bees players Indianapolis Indians players Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Scranton Miners players Syracuse Chiefs players Tulane Green Wave football coaches Washington University Bears football coaches High school football coaches in Illinois Louisiana city council members Sportspeople from Chicago People from Frontenac, Kansas People from Metairie, Louisiana Players of American football from Chicago Baseball players from Chicago