Don Whitmire

RADM Donald Boone Whitmire (July 1, 1922 – May 3, 1991) was a U.S. Navy officer and American football player who was drafted in the ninth round by the 1944 Green Bay Packers but choose to remain with the U.S. Navy.

Whitmire was born in Pulaski, Tennessee, the son of James Buford Whitmire Sr., who would later become the police chief in Decatur, Alabama, and Mary Whitmire (Ingram). He attended the University of Alabama from 1940 to 1942, where he was named to the Crimson Tide All-Time Cotton and Orange Bowl teams. He would leave UA to enlist in the Marine Corps following America's entry into WWII. Recognizing his value, Navy line coach Rip Miller recruited him to complete his schooling with the United States Naval Academy (USNA), where he won the Knute Rockne Trophy and the academy's Thompson Trophy. He also served as a brigade commander. He is one of only four college football players to ever be named as an All-American at two different schools, and would be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1956.

After his graduation from USNA in 1946, in the same class as future President Jimmy Carter, Whitmire was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, eventually retiring with the rank of rear admiral. Like Carter, Whitmire began his career as a submariner, where he commanded subs and a submarine division in the Atlantic. He served two tours in Vietnam, the first in command of an amphibious troop transport in 1967. He then went on to command an amphibious squadron in the Mediterranean. In 1977, his last assignment prior to retiring from the Navy was serving on the Atlantic Fleet staff.

Whitmire was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. In 1984, he was presented with the Audie Murphy Patriotism Award by President Ronald Reagan.

After his death on May 3, 1991, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Military awards Whitmire's military decorations and awards: