Hall of Fame
JOHN L. "JACK" O'LEARY '57, an offensive lineman on Rhode Island's 1955 Refrigerator Bowl team, captained his freshman football team and was a three-year letterman under coaches Hal Kopp and Herb Maack. Rhode Island posted a 6-2 mark in 1954 before going undefeated and winning the Yankee Conference title a year later, and playing in the Bowl Game at Evansville, Indiana. O'Leary returned to URI after graduation and served his alma mater for more than 40 years, coaching freshman football, serving as an assistant football coach, and running the school's intramural and aquatic programs. A long-time member of the physical education and exercise science department's faculty, he served as department chair from 1994 until his retirement.
