jmt57
Moderator
Staff member
PatsFans.com Supporter
2024 Weekly Picks Winner
2025 Weekly Picks Winner
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2005
- Messages
- 23,752
- Reaction score
- 19,679
Today in Patriots History
Ross "Rocky" O'Hanley
Ross "Rocky" O'Hanley
In memory of Ross O'Hanley, who would have turned 86 today
Born February 16, 1939 in Everett, Massachusetts
Patriot safety, 1960-1965; uniform #25
Signed as an undrafted rookie free agent early in the 1960 offseason
Pats résumé: six seasons, 77 games (74 starts); 15 interceptions, one TD; 1960 1st team All-AFL
Ross O’Hanley was an original Boston Patriot. He rose from being an undrafted rookie to the starting safety on opening day. O’Hanley was named to the 1960 All-AFL Team, the equivalent of being a first team All-Pro today. With the exception of seven 1961 games missed due to military obligations he played in every game for the first six years of the franchise. His fifteen career interceptions still place him in the top twenty in Patriots history to this day.
In 1963 the Patriots played their first playoff game. This was in the days before tiebreakers; the Pats and Bills finished with identical records, and would compete a week after the regular season ended to determine the AFL East champion. Though it doesn't sound like much now, it was a big deal then; the winner would play the following week for the league championship.
O'Hanley was part of a suffocating defense that led the way to victory that day. The safety intercepted Daryle Lamonica twice, one coming on Buffalo's best drive of the first half. Although the Pats offense kept getting bogged down and settling for field goals, the defense more than did its part, with the Patriots up 16-0 at halftime. By the time the game was over the Pats forced six Buffalo turnovers and won 26-8. It was the first playoff victory and first division title in franchise history.
From the Patriots 1965 Media Guide:
An original Patriot, Ross has been regular safety for the Patriots since their inception in 1960 save for a service hitch which required Ross to do duty during the Berlin crisis … He was All-League as a rookie in 1960 … A quarterback at Everett’s Christopher Columbus High, Ross was shifted to defensive back at Boston College where he played under Pat’s Coach, Mike Holovak … At B.C. he won the 1960 Tom Scanlon trophy for combining topnotch football ability with qualities of loyalty and sportsmanship … Ross worked as an account executive for the Commonwealth National Bank … Ross and his wife, Louise, lived near B.C. in Brookline.
Ross O'Hanley (1975) - Varsity Club Hall of Fame - Boston College Athletics
Boston College Athletics
bceagles.com
From BC's newspaper, The Heights, on January 15, 1960:
O'Hanley Perfect Choice For Tom Scanlon Memorial Award
"For Merit In Character, Scholarship, Football"
The Tom Scanlon Memorial Trophy award was presented to Ross O'Hanley at the Varsity Club banquet Sunday night by John B. Morris, president of the club.
Everyone who has enough interest in football to be reading this article knows that Ross typifies the good football player. This is no small statement to make about a defensive standout, who usually escapes the ordinary sports fan's notice. The Holy Cross Stadium this year echoed cheers of "Stop 'em Ross" and applause resounding the enthusiastic support usually reserved for colorful offensive players was heaped on Ross.
Not everyone knows the amazing academic schedule Ross kept besides playing football. Yet these are the reasons he was chosen.
He is on the Dean's List in the College of Business Administration with an 85 average. He is a member of the Executive Seminar, the Marketing Club, the Robert Bellarmine Government Academy, and is chairman of senior academic convocations. He also serves as assistant coach for a Pop Warner football team in Everett.
O'Hanley who played freshman football without the inspiration of financial assistance, hails from Christopher Columbus High School Everett. He is one of the few football players who commute.
In his speech, Ross emphasized the "mistaken notion that a student should not play a college sport unless he is receiving financial aid." His reason for playing merely, "I like the game." He attributed to parents, coaches, teachers, and friends a share in the award for inspiring him with a desire to play football and study.
Coach Hefferle said, "Ross is the type of student-athlete I like to coach."
O'Hanley sadly died on April 2, 1972 from a brain tumor at the far too young age of 33 after he displayed CTE symptoms, his wife Louise said in an interview. The official cause of death was cancer, but there has been some disagreement on what caused that brain tumor.
April 3, 1972 Obituary:
When he played for the Patriots his teammates called him "Rocky" for the fearless way he tackled in the defensive secondary.
Yet, nothing that Ross O'Hanley did on the football field could match the courage he showed away from it the past eight months, fighting a losing battle.
The struggle ended yesterday morning, when O'Hanley passed away at 32 years of age while playing with his 1-year old son in the kitchen of his Needham home.
"Ross had all the guts in the world," said Miami Dolphin middle linebacker Nick Buoniconti. "I was talking to him on the phone just last week. He knew what the story was, but he accepted it. I don't hink he was ever afraid of anything in his life -- not even dying."
Ross O'Hanley was Hollywood handsome, a man who appeared to have everything. A native of Everett, he played football at Christopher Columbus High School; graduated when he was just 16 years old, and went to Boston College.
At BC he became a top defensive back, playing under Mike Holovak who would sign him up again as one of the original Patriots. O'Hanley was still a minor legally at the time, so his parents had to sign his first pro contract.
Like he did at BC, O'Hanley came from unknown to starter, making the American Football league all-star team in the first year of the league.
O'Hanley returned to the Boston area and started to pursue a law career, while staying in football as the head coach of the Lowell and Quincy Giants.
He graduated from Suffolk Law School in 1969 and has served as an assistant district attorney in Norfolk County and recently as an assistant attorney general.
