Ray Oliver Donels (March 19, 1902 – April 15, 1973) 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 ...

coach. He served as head football coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

from 1941 until midway through the 1942 season, compiling a record of 3–8–1. He resigned on October 14, 1942. Donels was coach of the Iowa State freshman football and basketball teams for the 1938 season. As the football coach with Kenny Wells at

Ames High School Ames High School is the sole state school, public high school in Ames, Iowa, Ames, Iowa, United States. It is in the Ames Community School District. Academics This school is the only public high school in the city of Ames. In August 2019, A ...

, the Little Cyclones won every game in its 1937 fall season schedule. Donels also coached the Ames High boys basketball team for nine seasons from 1929 until 1938, compiling a 127–65 overall record. Ames won the 1936 state championship under Donels' direction. Donels was born in

Shellsburg, Iowa Shellsburg is a city in Benton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 961 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Shellsburg was founded in 1854. Geography According to th ...

. He attended Iowa State as an undergraduate in the class of 1928. He became a brother of Delta Chi Fraternity on October 13, 1923, when the fraternity chapter celebrated its chartering at Iowa State. Donels died on April 15, 1973, at a hospital in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. It is located along rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a popul ...

Head coaching record

Notes

References

1902 births 1973 deaths Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Iowa Iowa State University alumni People from Benton County, Iowa {{1940s-collegefootball-coach-stub