Jack Zilly
American football player (1921–2009)
title: "Jack Zilly" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1921-births", "2009-deaths", "american-football-defensive-ends", "american-football-ends", "brown-bears-football-coaches", "cheshire-academy-alumni", "coaches-of-american-football-from-connecticut", "hamilton-tiger-cats-coaches", "los-angeles-rams-players", "montana-state-bobcats-football-coaches", "notre-dame-fighting-irish-football-coaches", "notre-dame-fighting-irish-football-players", "philadelphia-eagles-players", "philadelphia-eagles-coaches", "players-of-american-football-from-waterbury,-connecticut", "rhode-island-rams-football-coaches", "united-states-navy-personnel-of-world-war-ii"] description: "American football player (1921–2009)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Zilly" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American football player (1921–2009) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox NFL biography"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Jack Zilly |
| image | JackZilly1951Bowman.jpg |
| number | 42, 56, 88 |
| position | End |
| Defensive end | |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Narragansett, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| height_ft | 6 |
| height_in | 2 |
| weight_lb | 212 |
| high_school | Lewis |
| (Southington, Connecticut) | |
| Cheshire Academy | |
| (Cheshire, Connecticut) | |
| college | Notre Dame |
| draftyear | 1945 |
| draftround | 4 |
| draftpick | 32 |
| statlabel1 | Receptions |
| statvalue1 | 23 |
| statlabel2 | Receiving yards |
| statvalue2 | 279 |
| statlabel3 | Touchdowns |
| statvalue3 | 4 |
| pfr | ZillJa20 |
| :: |
| name = Jack Zilly | image = JackZilly1951Bowman.jpg | number = 42, 56, 88 | position = End Defensive end | birth_date = | birth_place = Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Narragansett, Rhode Island, U.S. | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 2 | weight_lb = 212 | high_school = Lewis (Southington, Connecticut) Cheshire Academy (Cheshire, Connecticut) | college = Notre Dame | draftyear = 1945 | draftround = 4 | draftpick = 32 | pastteams =
- Los Angeles Rams ()
- Philadelphia Eagles () | pastcoaching =
- Montana State (1955) Freshman coach
- Notre Dame (1956–1958) Ends coach
- Brown (1959–1962) Ends coach
- Rhode Island (1963–1969) Head coach
- Philadelphia Eagles () Special teams coordinator & running backs coach
- Hamilton Tiger-Cats () Assistant coach | highlights =
- NFL champion (1951)
- 2× National champion (1943, 1946)
- Grey Cup champion (1972) | statlabel1 = Receptions | statvalue1 = 23 | statlabel2 = Receiving yards | statvalue2 = 279 | statlabel3 = Touchdowns | statvalue3 = 4 | pfr = ZillJa20
John Lynus Zilly (November 11, 1921 – December 18, 2009) was an American professional football player and coach who was an end for six seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Playing
Zilly played right end at the University of Notre Dame on their national championship team in 1943. During World War II, he served two years in the Navy, fighting in the Pacific. After the war, he returned to Notre Dame to help guide that team to another national championship in 1946. While Zilly was a sixth round draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers of the All-America Football Conference, he did not play for that team. Instead as a fourth round draft pick for the then-Cleveland Rams in 1945, he played six seasons in the NFL for the L. A. Rams and the 1952 Eagles. While in California, Zilly also appeared in five movies, the best-known being Twelve O'Clock High.
Coaching
In 1955, Zilly was named varsity baseball and freshman football and basketball coach at Montana State. He returned to his alma mater in 1956 as an assistant under Terry Brennan, then joined the coaching staff at Brown in 1959. From 1963 to 1969, Zilly was the head coach at Rhode Island. He compiled a 21-41-2 record, with his only winning season coming in 1967. In 1970, he became the running backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. In 1972, Eagles head coach Jerry Williams was hired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League and Zilly joined him as an assistant.
On January 8, 1978, Zilly coached the American team to a 22–7 victory over Canada in the first-ever Can-Am Bowl, at Tampa Stadium. His 1978 team consisted of future University of South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt and future Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins general manager, Bruce Allen.
Later life
After leaving football, Zilly owned and ran a successful real-estate company until his retirement.
Zilly died on December 18, 2009, in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
Head coaching record
| name = Rhode Island Rams | conf = Yankee Conference | startyear = 1963 | endyear = 1969 | championship = | year = 1963 | name = Rhode Island | overall = 4–5 | conference = 2–3 | confstanding = 3rd | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no | championship = | year = 1964 | name = Rhode Island | overall = 3–7 | conference = 1–4 | confstanding = 5th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no | championship = | year = 1965 | name = Rhode Island | overall = 2–7 | conference = 1–4 | confstanding = 5th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no | championship = | year = 1966 | name = Rhode Island | overall = 1–7–1 | conference = 1–3–1 | confstanding = 5th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no | championship = | year = 1967 | name = Rhode Island | overall = 6–2–1 | conference = 2–2–1 | confstanding = 3rd | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no | championship = | year = 1968 | name = Rhode Island | overall = 3–6 | conference = 2–3 | confstanding = T–3rd | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no | championship = | year = 1969 | name = Rhode Island | overall = 2–7 | conference = 1–4 | confstanding = T–15th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no | name = Rhode Island | overall = 21–41–2 | confrecord = 10–23–2 | overall = 21–41–2 | bowls = no | poll = no | polltype = | legend = no
References
References
- "Jack Zilly". pro-football-reference.com.
- "Rams All-Time Roster Varrichione-Zontini". stlouisrams.com.
- (November 2017). "Philadelphia Eagles All-Time Roster". philadelphiaeagles.com }}{{dead link.
- [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/wire/chi-ap-fbc-zilly-obit,0,4080810.story Former Notre Dame player Zilly dies at 88] ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', [[Associated Press]] story. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
- (July 1955). "Professional Background". Ocala Star-Banner.
- (November 20, 1969). "Zilly Reigns As R.I. Coach". The Norwalk Hour.
- (April 30, 1970). "Jack Zilly Named As Eagles Coach". The Morning Record.
- (March 8, 1972). "The King checks in; he's eager". The Montreal Gazette.
- (January 14, 2008). "Philadelphia Can-Am Bowl I". Tampa Sports History.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::