John Raymond "Dinny" McNamara (September 16, 1905 – December 20, 1963) was an

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

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

for the first four games of the 1935 season, compiling a record of 3–1. He briefly played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

with the

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

in 1927 and 1928.

Baseball career

After graduating from Boston College in June 1927, McNamara signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the

. He made his major league debut on July 2, 1927. In two seasons with the Braves, he played in 20 games, mostly as a

pinch runner In baseball or softball, a pinch runner is a player substituted into a game for the purpose of base running. Description A pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been s ...

, had one hit in 13 at-bats for a batting average of .077, and scored five runs. He also spent time with the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National ...

of the

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

. In 1929, he played for

Osterville Osterville is one of seven villages within the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. The village of Osterville is located on the south side of Barnstable on Nantucket Sound. Osterville is a residential community that includes marshes, ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

Coaching career

McNamara was the backfield coach at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

under Frank Cavanaugh from 1927 to 1932. In 1933, he served as an assistant to Joe McKenney at Boston College. McNamara became head football coach at Boston College in 1935 after McKenney resigned to accept the post of associate director of

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

in the Boston public school system. Midway through the 1935 season, McNamara resigned due to a "nervous ailment" and was replaced by Harry Downes. His record at head coach was 3–1. McNamara also served as the freshman baseball coach at Boston College. He was killed on December 20, 1963, when he was hit by a car while walking near his home.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

Dinny McNamara
at

SABR Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...

Bio Project {{DEFAULTSORT:McNamara, Dinny 1905 births 1963 deaths American football quarterbacks Major League Baseball outfielders Boston Braves players Boston College Eagles baseball coaches Boston College Eagles baseball players Boston College Eagles football coaches Boston College Eagles football players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Hyannis Harbor Hawks players Fordham Rams football coaches Providence Grays (minor league) players Sportspeople from Lexington, Massachusetts Players of American football from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Baseball players from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Pedestrian road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Massachusetts 20th-century American sportsmen