Faith, family and football: Ky Donnelly's story

Greenville Christian defensive end and running back Ky Donnelly has already lived a lifetime well beyond the years of other kids his age.

Born in Indianapolis to a single teen mother, Donnelly was put up for adoption at just a year old and brought into the home of Keith and Mary Donnelly.

Donnelly said that when he was growing up he didn’t have much of an interest in sports like other boys his age but he was still surrounded by them.

“I remember there were kids running around with footballs and baseballs and they had all the knowledge on all the current players. It just wasn’t my thing,” Donnelly said. “I was more into Stars Wars and video games and stuff like that.”

Donnelly said that he played flag football when he was younger simply for the fun of trying to outrun the other kids without getting his flag pulled. His adoptive father also wanted him to be a football player, despite his adoptive mother’s reluctance.

One of Donnelly’s earliest memories of an organized game was when his dad took him to see the Colts in 2013. Donnelly said he doesn’t remember much about the experience but recognized it was a loud and exciting environment.

However, when Donnelly was still just a kid, the family was struck with a hardship no one saw coming. Donnelly’s father suffered an unexpected cardiac arrest and passed away.

Donnelly’s mother, looking to stay closer to family during this tough time, moved the family to Wisconsin where she met who would become Donnelly’s step father, George Reninger.

After some time in Wisconsin, Reninger had to move to Utah for his work and the family followed him. They stayed there for about a year, according to Donnelly, before finally making their move to Texas, settling in Rockwall.

Donnelly said “everything was going good” throughout this time in his life but he was about to be hit with another sudden hardship. Donnelly’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in April 2023 when he was in eighth grade.

This left Donnelly with what he described as a pain and anger that started to negatively effect his life both in and out of school before things started to turn around his freshman year of high school.

“There was one night where I was not ok. I was crying and I just felt awful. I felt this peace a little bit and then it made me quiet down and I thought about it and it rushed over me. I don’t remember what night that was I just remember feeling that way,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly added that he believed that feeling of peace, which became a constant feeling for him, was the Holy Spirit calling him back to his faith.

The young man went through the process of being baptized and said “I accepted Jesus as my lord and savior.”

With his faith life internally restored, both Donnelly and his step father felt a change of scenery was also needed and the family ended up finding a home near Lake Tawakoni.

They both agreed on their new home being in that area because Donnelly’s mother would have loved it because it was in nature and looked “natural.”

When they were looking around for school’s in the area, Renington was initially considering homeschool but decided to go toward a private school as his family had always placed an emphasis on Donnelly going to private schools.

Through this search, the pair found out about Greenville Christian School, toured it and arranged for a day for Donnelly to shadow students.

It was there that Donnelly met future classmates like Ryder Brantner and Jack Feezel who Donnelly describes today as two of his best friends. They immediately tried to recruit him to the football team, which Donnelly worked toward when he officially applied and was accepted into the school.

Donnelly took summer courses to catch up on math, which was a subject he failed his freshman year of high school, and succeeded in making it two-a-days with the support of his fellow teammates.

Football not only served as a way to get into organized sports for Donnelly, it served as a foundation that made his transition to a new school during his sophomore year seamless and helped to rebuild his life after multiple tragedies.

“I don’t think I would have come back if I didn’t have that head start on making relationships that football gave me,” Donnelly said.

This season, Donnelly hopes to model his game after a graduated senior from last season Owen Pittsinger. Donnelly said Pittsinger was another player who reached out to Donnelly early on and brought him into his circle despite being an upperclassmen.

Donnelly also said Pittsinger was the type of person who never complained about a football game and would work so hard he would throw up after games. The defensive end and running back hopes to be an example for the next slate of underclassmen at Greenville Christian.

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →