Don Holleder

Bio

Don Holleder made first-team All-America end in 1954 and seemed certain to repeat in 1955. But Army needed a quarterback, and Coach Earl Blaik asked Holleder to switch. The decision looked bad as Army split its first four games and Holleder completed only three passes. Then Holleder led Army to victory in four of the last five games. In October 1967, in dense jungle 40 miles northwest of Saigon, Major Holleder, 33, operations officer for a brigade of the First Infantry Division, rushed to the aid of troops who had been ambushed by the Viet Cong. He was hacking a clearing for medical helicopters when enemy machine-gun fire cut him down. An Army medic who was a witness, Pfc. Thomas Hinger, said, "What an officer. He went ahead of us - running in the point position." In 1973 his high school, Aquinas, in Rochester, New York, dedicated Major Don Holleder Memorial Stadium. On October 1, 1988, the U.S. Military Academy dedicated Holleder Center. Near the Holleder Center is another monument. On it are carved these words of General Douglas MacArthur: "Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory."

Career Highlights

• 1954 First Team All-America