Art Donovan Professional football career how did his career start? In each of his first three seasons, Donovan played for a team which went out of business. which was the first team? He started out with the first Baltimore Colts, who folded after his rookie season in 1950, who did he play for next? followed by the New York Yanks in 1951,
and which was the last team?
which was Art Donovan's last team?
In each of his first three seasons, Donovan played for a team which went out of business. He started out with the first Baltimore Colts, who folded after his rookie season in 1950, followed by the New York Yanks in 1951, and their successor, the Dallas Texans, in 1952. After the Texans franchise was moved to Baltimore in 1953 and became the second Baltimore Colts, Donovan played with that team. He became one of the stars in an outstanding defense and was selected to five straight Pro Bowls, from 1953 through 1957. The Colts won back-to-back championships in 1958 and 1959. He was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.  During his career, Donovan played in what many believe was one of the most important games in NFL history, the 1958 title game between the Colts and the New York Giants. The contest between the two teams took place on December 28, 1958 and ended in a 17-17 tie. Because it was the championship game, it went into overtime, the first NFL game to do so. Donovan made an important tackle during the overtime, stopping the Giants and allowing Johnny Unitas to lead the Colts on an 80-yard scoring drive to win the game.  "The NFL's first overtime game, witnessed by 40 million viewers on nationwide television, captured the public imagination and became known as the "greatest game ever played." Donovan was one of 12 Hall of Fame players to take part - six of them Colts - but at the time he was not aware of the game's significance" CANNOTANSWER
the Dallas Texans, in 1952.
Arthur James Donovan Jr. (June 5, 1924 – August 4, 2013), nicknamed the Bulldog, was an American football defensive tackle who played for three National Football League (NFL) teams, most notably the Baltimore Colts. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Early life
Art Donovan, born June 5, 1924, was the son of Arthur Donovan, Sr., a boxing referee, and the grandson of Professor Mike Donovan, the world middleweight boxing champion in the 1870s.

Art attended Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx. He received a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame in 1942 but left after one semester to join the United States Marine Corps, enlisting in April 1943. He served four years, to include service in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. He took part in some of the conflict's fiercest engagements, such as the Battle of Luzon and the Battle of Iwo Jima. He also served as an ammo-loader on a 40mm gun on the aircraft carrier  and as a member of 3rd Marine Division. His earned citations, which included the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the Philippine Liberation Medal, and would later earn him a place in the U.S. Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame, the first pro football player so honored. After the war, he completed his college career at Boston College.

Professional football career
In each of his first three seasons, Donovan played for a team that went out of business. He started out with the first Baltimore Colts, which folded after his rookie season in 1950, followed by the New York Yanks in 1951, and their successor, the Dallas Texans, in 1952. After the Texans franchise folded, many of their players moved to Baltimore when the Colts were awarded a new franchise in 1953 and became the second Baltimore Colts, Donovan played with that team. He became one of the stars in an outstanding defense and was selected to five straight Pro Bowls, from 1953 through 1957. The Colts won back-to-back championships in 1958 and 1959. He was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

During his career, Donovan played in what many believe was one of the most important games in NFL history, the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Colts and the New York Giants. The contest between the two teams took place on December 28, 1958, and ended in a 17–17 tie. Being the championship game, it went into overtime, the first NFL game to do so. Witnessed by 40 million viewers on nationwide television, the game came to be known as the "greatest game ever played." Donovan made an important tackle during the overtime, stopping the Giants and allowing Johnny Unitas to lead the Colts on an 80-yard scoring drive to win the game. Donovan was one of 12 Hall of Fame players to take part, six of whom were Colts.

Post-playing career

He published an autobiography, Fatso, in 1987. He was noted as a jovial and humorous person during his playing career and capitalized on that with television and speaking appearances after retiring as a player. He owned and managed a country club near Baltimore. Donovan also appeared ten times on Late Night with David Letterman, telling humorous stories about his old playing days and about other footballers he played with and against in his time. He relayed a story that he played without a helmet and in fact is shown on football cards without a helmet. Letterman wore Donovan's No. 70 Colts jersey in the famous Super Bowl XLI commercial with Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno. Donovan also made several appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Donovan guest-starred in the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete in the episode "Space, Geeks, and Johnny Unitas". He also appeared as a guest commentator at the WWF King of the Ring tournament in 1994. Donovan's appearance at the event would become infamous among wrestling fans for being seemingly uninformed about the product as well as generally befuddled behavior such as repeatedly asking how much certain wrestlers weighed. He was joined by Gorilla Monsoon on play-by-play, who inadvertently referred to Donovan as "Art O'Donnell", and Randy Savage.

He was co-host of the popular 1990s program Braase, Donovan, Davis and Fans on WJZ-TV in Baltimore with Colt teammate Ordell Braase. The trio talked more about Art Donovan's fabled stories than contemporary NFL football, but the show held high ratings in its time slot. He was also a pitchman for the Maryland State Lottery and ESPN.

Achievements
 Played 12 seasons, 138 games
 Five-time consecutive Pro Bowl Selection (1953–1957)
 Four-time consecutive first-team All-Pro (1954–1957)
 First Colt to enter Pro Football Hall of Fame (1968)
 Member of 1958, 1959 NFL champion Baltimore Colts
 Began NFL play with Baltimore as a 26-year-old rookie (1950)
 Co-hosted the WWF's 1994 King of the Ring pay-per-view event
 U.S. Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame (2004)

Personal
Donovan was married to the former Dorothy Schaech for 57 years. Since 1955 they owned and managed the Valley Country Club in Towson, Maryland. Although he was the owner, Donovan was known for doing menial labor at the club to include painting and working in the kitchen washing pots and pans.

Death and legacy
Donovan died August 4, 2013, at Stella Maris Hospice in Baltimore from a respiratory disease at age 89.  A funeral mass was held at the Cathedral of Mary our Queen in Baltimore, and he was buried in a private ceremony at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. The Washington Post said of Donovan:

References

External links
 
 

1924 births
2013 deaths
American football defensive tackles
American Roman Catholics
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
Baltimore Colts players
Baltimore Colts (1947–1950) players
Boston College Eagles football players
Dallas Texans (NFL) players
Deaths from respiratory disease
New York Yanks players
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
Players of American football from New York (state)
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Sportspeople from the Bronx
United States Marines
Western Conference Pro Bowl players
Burials at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens
National Football League players with retired numbers
Philippe Tesnière was a professional cyclist between 1978 and 1981, finishing in last place in the 1978 Tour de France.

Biography
Tesnière became a professional cyclist in 1978 for the Fiat team, and started in the 1978 Tour de France. He finished in last place, and this gave him enough publicity to be invited for several post-Tour criteriums after the Tour.

In 1979, Tesnière rode the Tour de France, and after the 20th stage he occupied the last place in the general classification. Tesnière was also leading the intermediate sprints classification, and wanted to profit from the publicity of winning the intermediate sprints classification while finishing last in the general classification. However, he was worried that Gerhard Schönbacher, second-to-last in the general classification, would take over the last place. The 21st stage was run as an individual time trial, and Tesnière rode extra slow to secure his last place. The winner of the time trial, Bernard Hinault, took 1 hour, 8 minutes and 53 seconds to cover the 48.8 km, while Tesniere rode it in 1 hour, 23 minutes and 32 seconds; slower than all other cyclists. Tesnière's time was more than 20% slower than Hinault's, which meant that he had missed the time cut, and was taken out of the race.

The Fiat team folded at the end of 1979, and Tesnière started 1980 without a contract, but he was given the chance to ride the Tour de France for the team "les amis du Tour", a team especially made for cyclists without a sponsor. For the Tour, this team was combined with the Boston team, and the team leader from Boston told Tesnière that he could sign a contract if he would show something special in the Tour. Tesnière escaped in the first stage, and although he did not stay away until the finish, he collected enough points for the mountains classification to become the leader for two stages, which gave his team publicity. Tesnière collided in the third stage with a spectator and had to leave the race, but still he was given a contract for Boston.

In 1981, Tesnière rode the Tour de France for Boston. He finished the race in the penultimate 120th position. At the end of the season, the team folded, and Tesnière's professional career ended. Tesnière rode for four more years as an amateur, until 1985.

Tesnière was diagnosed with cancer in 1987, and died six months later.

Major results

1981
Tour d'Indre et Loire: Stage 2
1983
Tour de la Manche
1985
Prix Gilbert Bousquet

References

External links 

1955 births
1987 deaths
French male cyclists
People from Ernée
Sportspeople from Mayenne The Taichung Agan () was a Taiwanese professional baseball team belonging to the Taiwan Major League (TML). It was based in Taichung and took the Taichung Baseball Field (and occasionally the Hsinchu CKS Baseball Stadium) as its home throughout its history. After TML's collapse in early 2003 the Agan was absorbed by the Chinese Professional Baseball League's Macoto Cobras. Its most notable sponsor was the Acer Corporation, which sponsored this team in its last 2002 season.

The team's mascot, Agan, was derived from the Taiwanese aboriginal language of Tsou.

Team history
The Agan finished last in the league's debut season of 1997, going 41-53. Mitch Lyden (.350, 27 HR, 72 RBI) was second in the league in average and possibly second in homers as the offensive star. The pitching was led by Al Osuna (8-6, 2.50), who had the best ERA in the league.

The Agan remained last with a 40-66 season in 1998. Lyden's production dropped drastically (.278, 6 HR) and Hsu Ming-Chieh (7-4, 2.52) was the top hurler, finishing third in the league in ERA. The Agan improved drastically in 1999, going 40-42-2 to finish second in the TML, then they beat the Taipei Gida 4 games to 2 in the championship. Hsu (15-6, 2.83) was third in ERA during the regular season and then was the MVP of the championship series. Brad Strauss came over from the Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala during the season and won the batting title at .387.

Agan wore out though, and fell back to last in 2000 (35-46-3). Koji Muto (6-6, 2.74) was the top starter while Tung Tsung-hui (.330) was fourth in the TML in average. Taichung pulled a worst-to-first with a dazzling 43-16-1 record in 2001 and they beat Taipei Gida 4 games to 2 in the finals. Tung (.331) was again third in average, while Huang Chin-chih (7-3, 1.62) led the league in ERA and Hsu Chu-chien (7-2, 2.64) was fifth. Richard Bell (2-2, 22 Sv, 1.62, 69 K, 34 H in 55 IP) was the league's top reliever.

As the TML merged with the Chinese Professional Baseball League after 2002, it was Agan's last season and they again steamrolled the competition with a 47-24-1 record and toppling the Kaohsiung-Pingtung Fala 4 to 1 in the best-of-7 finals. Huang Chin-chih(16-2, 2 Sv, 1.46) led the league in wins and ERA and Muto (8-3, 2.26) was second in ERA. Ned Darley (2-0, 14 Sv, 1.13) again gave the team an effective foreign closer. Roberto Mejía led the league in hitting (.332), stole 20 bases and was second in homers (14) and RBI (62). The only better slugger was Chia-Hsian Hsieh, who homered 19 times, drove in 64 and was second with a .321 average.

With three titles, the Agan were the most successful team in TML history, though they finished last in their other three seasons.

References

External sources
Taichung Agan at B-R Bullpen

Defunct baseball teams in Taiwan
Sport in Taichung