More specifically, Donnelly was a catcher on the Musketeers' baseball team. He was pushing toward his physical education degree. He was a kid from Steubenville, Ohio, who was still a bit awed by his fellow athletes on campus—especially his buddies on the basketball and football teams.
"They all wore these beautiful blue letter sweaters with a big white X when they walked around campus," Donnelly remembers. "Man, I wanted one of those. I wanted to be known, to be accepted, to wear it out on a date."
Slight problem, however.
"Back then, the baseball team didn't pass out the sweaters," Donnelly says.