High School:  Grant

College:  USC

​
* NFL Playing Career:  6 Years (Detroit, Washington, Los Angeles Rams)

​* NFL Champion (1952)

​* 4 Pro Bowls selections (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953)

​* Pro Bowl MVP (1952)

​* Coaching Career: 34 years College and NFL

​
Don attended Grant and was an all-league quarterback and named Cal-Hi Sports State Player of the Year in 1943. He is one of only four Sacramento-area players to earn the honor.  Don played halfback (both offensive and defensive) for USC from 1944 to 1948.  He led USC in rushing three times: in 1944, 1947 and 1948 and receptions and scoring in 1948.  The 1944 Trojans finished the season undefeated and were the 1945 Rose Bowl Champions, with Doll being the game's leading rusher.

 

Don was drafted by the Detroit Lions with the 67th overall pick in the 1948 NFL Draft.  He played defensive back for the next four years with the Lions from 1949 to 1952. Don was selected as an All-Pro player in his first three seasons and he was selected four times to play in the Pro Bowl.  In 1949, he tied an NFL record with four interceptions in a single game and is the only player in NFL history to have 10 or more interceptions in each of three different seasons (1949, 1950 and 1953).  When he retired at the end of the 1954 season, he was the NFL's all-time leader with 41 interceptions.  In 1952, Don was selected as the Most Valuable Player in the Pro Bowl.​ That same year, Don played safety for the Lions who won the NFL Championship.  

​

After retiring as a player, Don coached for 34 years.  He was a collegiate head coach at West Contra Costa Junior College; and an assistant coach with the University of Washington, USC, and Notre Dame.  Don coached in the NFL with  the Lions, Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Colts, Miami Dolphins, and San Francisco 49ers.  Don will be remembered as one of the most accomplished football players ever to come from Sacramento.