Chris Doleman Wiki – Bio
Chris Doleman was born on October 16, 1961 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Christopher John Doleman was an American football defensive end who spent the majority of his career with the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. Doleman also played for the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers.
Today, we mourn the loss of a legendary, Hall of Fame player – and an even better man.
Chris Doleman, 1961-2020.https://t.co/9epL2jmIH2 pic.twitter.com/eE5JQDTidp
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) January 29, 2020
Chris Doleman Age
He was 58 years old.
Early life and Career
Doleman attended William Penn Senior High School in York, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1980. He spent a postgraduate year at Valley Forge Military Academy in 1981.
Doleman played football collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh. He was a star linebacker and defensive end for the Pitt Panthers from 1981 to 1984. He ended his career at Pitt with 25 sacks which was good for third all-time at the time of his departure. That total still ranks sixth in the Pitt annals.
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Doleman was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round (4th overall) of the 1985 NFL Draft. He began his NFL career as an outside linebacker (OLB) in the Vikings’ 3–4 defense, but for the 1987 season (Doleman’s third season) the team decided to switch to a 4–3 defense, which resulted in him being moved from his spot at OLB up to the defensive line to play as a defensive end.
The move paid off for Doleman, who recorded 21 sacks in the 1989 season, the highest total recorded that season and the fourth highest total ever. The 21 sacks in a single season was a Vikings record until Jared Allen recorded 22 sacks in 2011. Doleman later played for the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers before returning to the Vikings in 1999 for his final season.
He was a first-team All-Pro in 1987, 1989 and 1992. He garnered second-team All-Pro selections in 1990 and 1993.
In 2012, Doleman was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Cause of Death
Hall of Fame defensive end Chris Doleman, whose enviable blend of speed and power made him one of the NFL’s most feared pass rushers during 15 seasons in the league, has died.
The Vikings and the Pro Football Hall of Fame expressed their condolences in separate statements confirming Doleman’s death on Tuesday night. Doleman had surgery two years ago to remove a brain tumor after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer that killed U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona in 2018.
The diagnosis and surgery kept Doleman from attending Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis, requiring a five-week hospital stay in Atlanta, but later that year he was able to travel to Canton, Ohio, for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony that included former teammate Randy Moss. That fall, he married his wife, LaTresa Doleman, and they traveled to Minnesota together for the team’s Ring of Honor induction ceremony for the late Dennis Green, one of his coaches with the Vikings.