| Wins against Kentucky - 0 | Losses against Kentucky - 1 |
Alma Mater: Yale [1904]
Hometown: County Kerry, Ireland
Date Born: June 4, 1876
Date Died: December 11, 1958
Overall Record: 72-81 [16 Seasons]
| Date | Matchup | UK Result | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/29/1921 | Auburn at Kentucky | W | 40 - 25 | - |
Obituary - Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (December 12, 1958)
Pint-Sized Football Giant Mike Donahue Dies at 84
BATON ROUGE, La., (AP) - Michael Joseph (Mike) Donahue, pint-sized Irishman who became a football giant as coach at Auburn and Louisiana State University, died Thursday at his home.
The 84-year old Donahue, charter member of football's Hall of Fame, had been ill for several months.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday. Burial will be in Roselawn Memorial Park.
In his later years, Donahue's major sports interest was golf. He was a familiar sight on any weekday practicing golf shots near LSU's huge Tiger Stadium.
A native of County Kerry, Ireland, Donahue came to the United States when he was 13.
He worked his way through high school, borrowed $250 and entered Yale University.
At Yale, the five-foot, six-inch Donahue won letters in five sports and Yale lost only three football games during the four years the 140-pound quarterback played.
In 1904, after graduating from Yale, Donahue went to Alabama Polytechnic Institute as head football coach.
His teams quickly became known as the hardest-hitting in the South. The diminutive Irishman devised the Auburn line divide, an offensive formation that swept all before it. Auburn became a power in Southern football.
After 19 years at Auburn, LSU lured Donahue away with the then - fabulous salary of $10,000. This was reported to be the highest salary paid a football coach in the South up to that time.
He remained at LSU five years before retiring from active coaching. Donahue also worked as a golf professional at the Baton Rouge Country Club.
In 1929, he moved to Mobile as athletic director at Springhill College, returning to LSU in 1937 to direct intramural athletics.
In 1949, he was one of 32 players and 31 coaches named when the Football Hall of Fame was established at Rutgers University.
