Chris Doleman

We are so happy to be able to honor yet another legend of the game of football that has a connection to Western Pennsylvania. Defensive wonder Chris Doleman and his brilliant story is out focus and feature story of the day.

On October 16, 1961, near Indianapolis, Indiana Christopher John Doleman was born. A few years later the family moved to York, Pennsylvania where young Chris attended William Penn Senior High School and played football. At William Penn, he was a three sports star. Besides crushing unsuspecting ball carriers on the gridiron Chris also was a force on he hard courts and in the arena of volleyball where his athleticism and height made him a force to be reckoned with. In fact, the York Dispatch claims that he might be the best athlete ever our the York, PA area. It wasn't a total cakewalk for the youngsters at William Penn in those few years though. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the team suffered from a series of lack of leadership events. The teachers of the school went on strike just prior to his junior season. That made it so that they had no coach and basically the team hand to "fend" for themselves to become proficient at the game. When the strike ended, it was too late for the team to recover and they spiraled into a difficult season.
The following year, and after a fresh clean start, the team was once again left in leadership turmoil when their coach suffered a heart attack. As Doleman’s senior season ended, his options seemed limited as he did not get much recognition as a blue-chip prospect, due mainly to not having a focused coaching team to promote him to colleges. 
All things pointed to Doleman attending Temple University as his senior year of high school football was a dominating performance. In fact, Chris signed a letter of intent with Temple University according to an article on Vista Today. However, his football fate would change in the Big 33 All-star game. Pitt Panthers head coach at the time Jackie Sherrill watched him play in the game which pitted Pennsylvania's high school elite against a neighboring state's and he was impressed by Chris's performance. Sherrill started recruiting him relentlessly and soon convinced Doleman to first attend Valley Forge Military College, where he enrolled in 1981.
The year of scholastic postgraduate at Valley Forge Military Academy before attending the University of Pittsburgh as recommended by Coach Sherrill did Doleman wonders both academically and from a football standpoint. Provided a great foundation for playing for Pitt from 1981 through 1984. In the third game of his freshman season, Chris's performance on the field proved for him to be in the starting eleven of the Panther defense. By the end of that season, Doleman ended with 45 tackles, two tackles for losses, four passes defended, one fumble recovery, and 12 sacks as part of the top-ranked defense in the nation. The program had a bit of a setback in the player’s second year though when Coach Sherrill left the school. Doleman's numbers dropped from his first year as the scheme of the incoming coach altered what they did. Pitt had a disappointing season at 3-7 but NFL scouts were very interested in Doleman. The only issue...what position would he play? He was a tweener in size between a defensive tackle and a linebacker. Chris served in both roles during his college years at Pitt. He had a very productive four seasons too. At the end of his collegiate career, Doleman ended up third on the all-time sack list for the Pitt Panthers with 25.
Chris Doleman was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings out of the University of Pittsburgh with the fourth pick in the 1985 NFL Draft as a linebacker according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s website bio on him. In his rookie season with the Vikings, Chris played in all 16 games with 13 starts at linebacker and finished third on the team with 113 total tackles, recovered three fumbles, and intercepted one pass. His stellar performance in year one, made him be recognized with a selection to the All-Rookie team by the Pro Football Writers Association.
At some point in his second season, Doleman was moved to play defensive end and he showed great improvement putting up 11 sacks in 1987. In 1989 he led the NFL with 21 sacks. After the 1992 season, he was voted as the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Year after he put up 14.5 sacks on the year. Chris played a total of 15 NFL seasons, 9 with the Vikings, a couple with Atlanta, and then his final ones as a San Francisco 49er, and another stint in Minnesota to end his fine career. He ended with 150.5 career sacks the fourth-most in NFL history. Chris Doleman entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio in 2012’s enshrinement class.
We lost Mr. Chris Doleman much too early from this world when he passed away in January of 2020 at age 58 after a prolonged battle with a brain tumor.

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