Christopher John Doleman (October 16, 1961 – January 28, 2020) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He spent the majority of his career with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, and also played for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

and the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. Doleman was an eight-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

selection and a twice first-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

, recording 150.5 career sacks. He is a member of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

class of 2012.

Early life

Doleman attended

William Penn Senior High School The William Penn Senior High School is a large, urban, public high school serving York, Pennsylvania in York County, Pennsylvania, York County, Pennsylvania. There were 876 pupils enrolled in 2014. It is the sole high school operated by the York ...

York, Pennsylvania York is a city in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located in South Central Pennsylvania, the city's population was 44,800 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in ...

, and graduated in 1980. He spent a

postgraduate year A postgraduate (PG) year is an extra year of secondary coursework at a boarding school following high school graduation, but before entering college. It is a gap year option intended for students who either have not applied or were not admitt ...

Valley Forge Military Academy Valley Forge Military Academy and College (VFMAC) is a private boarding school (grades 7–12) and military junior college in Wayne, Pennsylvania. It follows in the traditional Military academy, military school format with army traditions. T ...

in 1981.

College career

Doleman played football collegiately at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. He was a star linebacker and defensive end for the Pitt Panthers from 1981 to 1984. He ended his career at Pitt with 25 sacks which was good for third all-time at the time of his departure. That total still ranks sixth in the Pitt annals.

Professional career

Doleman was selected by the

in the first round (4th overall) of the

1985 NFL draft The 1985 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The NFL draft, draft was held April 30 and May 1, 1985 NFL season, 1985, at the Omni Park Central Hotel in New York City, New ...

. He began his NFL career as an outside linebacker (OLB) in the Vikings' 3–4 defense, but for the 1987 season (Doleman's third season) the team decided to switch to a 4–3 defense, which resulted in him being moved from his spot at OLB up to the defensive line to play as a defensive end. The move paid off for Doleman, who recorded 21 sacks in the 1989 season, the highest total recorded that season and the fourth-highest total ever. The 21 sacks in a single season was a Vikings record until Jared Allen recorded 22 sacks in 2011. Doleman later played for the

and the

before returning to the Vikings in 1999 for his final season. He was a first-team All-Pro in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. He garnered second-team All-Pro selections in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. In 2012, Doleman was elected to the

NFL career statistics

Personal life and death

On January 25, 2018, Doleman had brain surgery for a condition which was later diagnosed as

glioblastoma Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain, and has a very poor prognosis for survival. Initial signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nons ...

. On January 28, 2020, Doleman died from the disease at the age of 58. He was honored prior to kickoff at

Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 NFL season, 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2019 Kansas City Chiefs season, Kansas City ...

five days later.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doleman, Chris 1961 births 2020 deaths American football defensive ends American football linebackers Atlanta Falcons players Minnesota Vikings players Pittsburgh Panthers football players San Francisco 49ers players National Conference Pro Bowl players Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Players of American football from Indianapolis Players of American football from York, Pennsylvania Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Deaths from glioblastoma 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen