What a huge thrill for the O'Donnell family recently when Gary was inducted into the Essendon Hall of Fame along with Mark Harvey and other black and red luminaries.
Gary was a regular fixture at Olinda during the 1970s when his father Graeme helped the Mighty Bloods to a premiership (1978) and also won a Club Best and Fairest.
O'Donnell junior still remembers calling some players "Mr.", as in Mr Hayne !
Given that Graeme was around 40 years old when he was still dominting EFL Third Division football it's little wonder that Gary grew up to be an AFL star !
The photo shows Gary and Graeme along with, l to r, sister Wendy, mum Bev and wife Lisa
Last Modified on 15/05/2014 16:29