The Dolans at the '79 Division II National Championship in New Mexico.

A bowl game love story

Article by Diane Stopyra Photos courtesy of Don and Jane Dolan December 16, 2025

Former cheerleaders cheer on the Hens

Football games aren’t typically imbued with romance. But for Double Dels Don and Jane Dolan, UD’s first FBS bowl appearance — the 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile, Alabama — will be a sentimental walk (or, in this case, a sentimental high kick) down memory lane.

More than 40 years ago, the couple met as University cheerleaders. They shared brown-bag lunches on the steps of Memorial Hall and traveled together for away games. (Jane, one of seven children in a family that didn’t splurge on fancy vacations, recalls “the absolute thrill” of her first airplane ride to a championship in Albuquerque.)

Jane Dolan with the cheer squad's "little Blue Hen," junior mascot Beth Collier whose parents, Charles and Jane Collier, were big supporters of UD football. Beth would later be in Don and Jane's wedding — and attend UD herself.

Now the Blue Hens have come full circle. At the bowl game against Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns on Wednesday, Dec. 17, two of their grown children will be cheering by their side. And one of these sons, Drew, is the CEO of development company 68 Ventures, the event’s title sponsor.

“It’s almost surreal,” said Don, Class of 1980 and cheerleading co-captain turned vice president in the commercial flooring industry. “As you get older, despite all of the bumps and bruises along the way, you look back and go ‘Wow, we really have had a great life — and the University was such a big part of it’.”

Cheerleading for UD in the late 1970s was a different world. The group didn’t have a formal coach, and the squad largely coordinated their own travel arrangements with the help of the Charlie B Travels agency on Main Street. And the stunts? They’ve evolved quite a bit, too.

“I doubt I would even make the team today,” laughed Don.

But the scrappy nature of the squad didn’t detract from the magic of those seasons — or from finding a soulmate between pyramid climbs. The couple’s relationship moved quickly, and Don proposed during Jane’s senior spring on those storied Memorial Hall steps. Over the years, life took them from Texas to Boston and finally Alabama, where they raised four children. But no matter the location, the Dolans’ Blue Hen pride never waned.

A newspaper clipping of the ’79 squad.

“When we first arrived in this state, people would ask us, ‘Oh, do you support Auburn University or the University of Alabama?’” said Jane, Class of 1981 and owner of a calligraphy business. “We would just look at each other — so few had even heard of Delaware. Now, it’s wonderful seeing the Blue Hens on such a big stage, receiving this well-deserved recognition.”

Don and Jane are prepped and ready for this historic moment — last week, they visited campus for the 60th reunion of Don’s fraternity, Lambda Chi, and they made sure to stop off for fresh UD swag and game-day shakers. In the meantime, they’ve got one message for the Fightin’ Blue Hens and, of course, the cheer squad they remember so fondly.

“Go Blue Hens!” Jane said. “Work hard and have fun.”