Career
Vellone spent his entire five-year career for the Minnesota Vikings, starting in most of his appearances during this span. Vellone"s career and life were cut short due to Hodgkin"s lymphoma. Before he joined the pro leagues, Vellone played college football for two years at the University of Southern California.
Prior to joining the University of Southern California Trojans, Vellone was a Junior College All-American guard at Cerritos College.
Foreign two seasons while in Minnesota (1968–1969), Vellone was a teammate of offensive tackle Ron Yary, who likewise was a star lineman at Cerritos College and at University of Southern California.
Jim Vellone abruptly retired from the NFL in 1971 when he discovered he had Hodgkin"s lymphoma. He spent the final six years of his life undergoing treatments and chemotherapy.
Although managing to live a normal life for some time, Vellone finally succumbed to the cancerous disease on August 21, 1977, a day after his 33rd birthday, at Saint Joseph"s Hospital in Orange, California. According to a brief article in the Saint St. Petersburg Times (Fla) newspaper two days after his death, friends had said that Vellone had checked into Saint Joseph"s due to breathing problems.