Jack Zilly

{{Short description|American football player (1921–2009)}}

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Jack Zilly

| image = JackZilly1951Bowman.jpg

| number = 42, 56, 88

| position = End
Defensive end

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|11|11}}

| birth_place = Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|12|18|1921|11|11}}

| death_place = Narragansett, Rhode Island, U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 2

| weight_lb = 212

| high_school = Lewis
(Southington, Connecticut)
Cheshire Academy
(Cheshire, Connecticut)

| college = Notre Dame

| draftyear = 1945

| draftround = 4

| draftpick = 32

| pastteams =

• Los Angeles Rams ({{NFL Year|1947|1951}})
• Philadelphia Eagles ({{NFL Year|1952}})

| pastcoaching =

• Montana State (1955)
  Assistant coach
• Notre Dame (1956–1958)
  Ends coach
• Rhode Island (1963–1969)
  Head coach
• Philadelphia Eagles ({{NFL Year|1970|1972}})
  Special teams coordinator & running backs coach
• Hamilton Tiger-Cats ({{CFL Year|1973|1975}})
  Assistant coach

| highlights =

• NFL champion (1951)
• 2× National champion (1943, 1946)

| statlabel1 = Receptions

| statvalue1 = 23

| statlabel2 = Receiving yards

| statvalue2 = 279

| statlabel3 = Touchdowns

| statvalue3 = 4

| pfr = ZillJa20

}}

John Lynus Zilly{{cite web |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/Z/ZillJa20.htm |title=Jack Zilly |access-date=2009-03-10 |publisher=pro-football-reference.com }} (November 11, 1921 – December 18, 2009) was an American professional football player who was an end for six seasons with the Los Angeles Rams{{cite web|url=http://www.stlouisrams.com/MediaContent/23/1/History_Varrichione_Zontini_32855.pdf |title=Rams All-Time Roster Varrichione-Zontini |access-date=2009-03-10 |publisher=stlouisrams.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060110221131/http://www.stlouisrams.com/MediaContent/23/1/History_Varrichione_Zontini_32855.pdf |archive-date=January 10, 2006 }} and the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL).{{cite web |url=http://assets.philadelphiaeagles.com/assets/team/alltimeroster101308.pdf |title=Philadelphia Eagles All-Time Roster |access-date=2009-03-10 |publisher=philadelphiaeagles.com }}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Zilly played right end at the University of Notre Dame on their national championship team in 1943. During World War II, he served two years in the Navy, fighting in the Pacific. After the war, he returned to Notre Dame to help guide that team to another national championship in 1946. While Zilly was a sixth round draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers of the All-America Football Conference, he did not play for that team.[http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/wire/chi-ap-fbc-zilly-obit,0,4080810.story Former Notre Dame player Zilly dies at 88] Chicago Tribune, Associated Press story. Retrieved 2009-12-20. Instead as a fourth round draft pick for the then-Cleveland Rams in 1945, he played six seasons in the NFL for the L. A. Rams and the 1952 Eagles. While in California, Zilly also appeared in five movies, the best-known being Twelve O'Clock High.

When his playing career ended, Zilly coached at Montana State, Rhode Island, Notre Dame, for the Eagles, and in the Canadian Football League. On January 8, 1978, Zilly coached the American team to a 22–7 victory over Canada in the first-ever Can-Am Bowl, at Tampa Stadium. His 1978 team consisted of future University of South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt and future Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins general manager, Bruce Allen.{{cite web |url=http://tampasportshistory.blogspot.com/2008/01/can-am-bowl-i-1879.html |title=Philadelphia Can-Am Bowl I |access-date=2009-12-23 |publisher=Tampa Sports History }}

After leaving football, Zilly owned and ran a successful real-estate company until his retirement.

Zilly died on December 18, 2009, in Narragansett, Rhode Island.