1960-1965
ROSS O'HANLEY   S

Ross O'Hanley was born February 16, 1940, in Everett MA. He attended Christopher Columbus High School and graduated when he was just 16 years old. He became a standout athlete and student at Boston College from 1958 to 1960, winning the Thomas F. Scanlon Award for outstanding character, scholarship and football ability.

At B.C. he played under Mike Holovak, who brought Ross with him to play with the Boston Patriots, in the newly formed American Football League, in 1960. Ross spent six seasons in Boston, during which he appeared in a combined 77 games for the team as a safety and made the All-AFL Team in his first year. In 1961 he played in every game except the seven he missed due to military obligations. During his tenure with the club, the Patriots made it to the AFL Championship Game to cap their 1963 season. His fifteen career interceptions still place him in the top twenty in Patriots history.

Ross was taken in the expansion draft by the new Miami Dolphins, but his career was cut short by injuries.

After he retired from actively participating in football, he coached the Lowell and Quincy Giants. He then studied to be a lawyer and graduated from Suffolk Law in 1969, passing the bar in 1970. He served as assistant district attorney in Norfolk County and as an assistant attorney general.

In 1974 Ross had brain surgery after having nagging headaches for months and a malignant tumor was found. That was followed by paralysis, which saw him confined to a wheelchair.

Ross O'Hanley died after his battle with cancer on April 2, 1972, at 33 years old in Needham, Mass. He was elected to  the Boston College Varsity Club Hall of Fame posthumously in 1975.