Dana Hills High assistant football coach John Donnelly, an inspiring mentor on the field and in the classroom with special education students, died Thursday, Sept. 3 after a battle with cancer, Dolphins co-coach Phil Skinner said. He was 55.
Donnelly served as an assistant coach at Dana Hills in 2016-17 and planned to rejoin the team but learned in early June that he had cancer, Skinner and Donnelly’s longtime partner Carrie Angelakis said.
The Dana Point resident also taught special education at Dana Hills High.
“Amazing motivator of kids,” said Skinner, who also teaches special education at the school. “He was that guy who could get it (progress) out of a kid.”
Known for his signature shaven head, Donnelly, or “JD” as he was affectionately called, had long ties to Dana Hills’ football program.
He served as the defensive coordinator during the school’s strong season of 2009 under then-Coach Brent Melbon. Former Dana Hills coach Scott Orloff hired Donnelly in 1997.
Donnelly also coached standouts such as Nick and Anthony Kaspar and Trent Mason and was a close friend of former Dana Hills coach Don Douglass.
Skinner said Donnelly would sometimes motivate players before a game by head-butting their helmets, which would create an impression on his forehead and later bleed.
“He lit everybody up,” Skinner said. “JD was a fireball. … He’d get kids to run through a wall on command.”
Skinner said he received nearly 35 personal video messages from former Dana Hills players who wanted to share their appreciation with Donnelly before he died.
Donnelly coached the past two seasons at San Juan Hills. He guided the linebackers on the Stallions’ 2018 Sea View League championship team and was a freshman assistant last season.
“John was passionate, enthusiastic and had a special bond with his players,” Stallions coach Rob Frith said. “The kids absolutely loved playing for him and really respected him because he cared so much about them.”
Donnelly also served as an assistant coach on successful teams at San Clemente and Edison.
He was a defensive line coach for San Clemente in 2014 and 2015, two seasons that set the stage for the Tritons’ run to CIF-SS and CIF State title in 2016. San Clemente won Sea View League titles both seasons.
“John was passionate about kids and his role as a teacher,” San Clemente coach Jaime Ortiz said. “The players loved playing for him and he worked tirelessly at his craft as a teacher and coach.”
Donnelly also served as Ocean View’s head coach for three seasons from 1993-95. The Seahawks went 5-25 in his tenure but snapped a 36-game losing streak — the longest in the state at the time — in his second season.
Donnelly played football at Ocean View and became an all-conference selection at Graceland University in Iowa in 1988.
In recent years, he also was helping raise his grandchildren, Shane, 11, and Seth, 7.
“He was the coach for them in everything,” Angelakis said. “He dedicated himself to those boys.”
Donnelly became a Christian about 2 1/2 years ago and was recently baptized through Calvary Chapel Church in San Juan Capistrano, Angelakis said.
“He was just a caring man,” she said. “He was my soul mate.”
Donnelly is also survived by children Zach, Brett, Brooke, Lanel, Belinda, Nick and Alex, his sister Lynn of Orange and mother Barbara of Huntington Beach. Zach and Brett played football at Edison while Brooke played volleyball.
Memorial arrangements have not been announced.
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