Holleder was born in Buffalo, New York, and at age 13, he and his family moved to Irondequoit, New York. He attended high school at the Aquinas Institute in nearby Rochester. He was heavily recruited by a number of top college football recruiters, including West Point's offensive coach Vince Lombardi. He elected to enroll at the United States Military Academy at West Point. As a junior in 1954, he was named to the All-America team as an end. The following season, Army head coach Colonel Red Blaik asked him to move to quarterback. Holleder clearly lacked the skills to be a productive passer, but Blaik felt that his leadership skills were important and would help the struggling team improve. Blaik's move was ridiculed but it paid off. The team finished with a record of 6-3-0, including a rousing upset of Navy that led to Holleder's appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated. One of Holleder's classmates at West Point was General Norman Schwarzkopf. They both graduated in the Class of 1956.
1956 NFL draft
The New York Giants selected Holleder in the 1956 NFL Draft college draft. However, Holleder was not interested in a professional football career.
Military career
After graduating from West Point, he continued to serve in the U.S. Army. Over the next ten years, he rose to the rank of major, serving posts in Hawaii and Korea, and in between returning to West Point for three years as an assistant football coach, recruiter, and scout.
In 1967, Holleder, now a major, requested to be sent to Vietnam, where he became the Operations Officer for 1st Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division. During the Battle of Ong Thanh on Tuesday October 17, 1967, he and his commanding officer were overflying the battle in a helicopter. They observed the entire command unit on the ground had been killed and the remaining men were in serious trouble. Don volunteered to organize a rescue effort. Upon landing, Holleder secured three volunteers and rushed to the battle site. Running far in front of his volunteers, he was shot by a sniper. The volunteers who accompanied him pulled him into cover behind a tree. Before they could apply emergency first aid, Holleder died. He is interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
Personal life
Holleder had a wife, Caroline, and four daughters, Stacy, Katherine, Susan, and Caroline.
Legacy
In 1974, the football stadium in his hometown of Rochester was renamed Holleder Memorial Stadium in his honor. The stadium was home to the football team of his high school Alma Mater, Aquinas Institute. In 1985 the stadium was torn down where the Holleder Technology Park now stands on the site, bisected by Holleder Parkway. In 1985, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and that same year, West Point's basketball/hockey arena was named in his honor. Each year, the Army football team recognizes one of their players with the Black Lion Award, given "to a player who best exemplifies the character of Don Holleder, leadership, courage, devotion to duty, self sacrifice and, above all, an unselfish concern to put the team ahead of himself." He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on April 27, 2012. David Maraniss' book They Marched Into Sunlight is currently in production for a 6-part series for FX and will include Holleder's story.
