John "Blood" McNally
 |
|
| Born: |
November 27, 1903 New Richmond, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Died: | November 28, 1985 (aged 82) Palm Springs, California |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Halfback |
| College | Saint John's (MN), Notre Dame |
| Career history | |
| As coach | |
| 1937–1939 | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| 1940–1941 | Kenosha Cardinals |
| 1950–1952 | Saint John's (MN) |
| As player | |
| 1925–1926 | Milwaukee Badgers |
| 1926–1927 | Duluth Eskimos |
| 1928 | Pottsville Maroons |
| 1929–1933 | Green Bay Packers |
| 1934 | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| 1935–1936 | Green Bay Packers |
| 1937–1938 | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| 1941 | Buffalo Tigers |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
 United States |
| Service/ |
 U.S. Army Air Corps
|
| Years of service | 1941–1945 |
| Battles/wars |
World War II India Theater |
John Victor McNally (November 27, 1903 – November 28, 1985), nicknamed Johnny Blood, was an American football player and coach. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1963.
John Victory McNally Jr. was born as the fourth of six surviving children to parents, Mary and John McNally Sr. A native of New Richmond, Wisconsin, McNally graduated from high school at age 14. He never played high school sports, but earned letters in football, baseball, basketball, and track at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. McNally transferred to Notre Dame in 1926, but left school to play semi-professional football. He did not earn his degree until 1946 after retiring from the game.
In 1922, while working for a newspaper in Minneapolis and still answering to the name John McNally, he and a friend, Ralph Hanson, heard they could make extra money by playing football for a semipro football team in the city. They decided to try out under fake names, which would protect McNally's amateur standing in case Notre Dame agreed to take McNally back someday after having been kicked out. They headed over to the team's practice field on McNally's motorcycle. "On the way there", McNally said, "we passed a theater on Hennepin Avenue, and up on the marquee I saw the name of the movie that was playing, Blood and Sand with Rudolph Valentino. Ralph was behind me on the motorcycle, and I turned my head and shouted, 'That's it. I'll be Blood and you be Sand.'" McNally made the team, but it was a few years before he made football history while playing with the Green Bay Packers and five other NFL teams.
Starting in 1925, McNally made a tour of pro football franchises—the Milwaukee Badgers (1925–26), Duluth Eskimos (1926–27), Pottsville Maroons (1928), Green Bay Packers (1929–33), Pittsburgh Pirates (1934), the Packers again (1935–36), and the Pirates again as player-coach (1937–39).
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