blog posts Ilini football player, music major who became Broadway's Li'l Abner has passed Sep 23, 2021 1:15 pm by DeadlineIllinois in the News Share on Facebook Tweet Email Images Deadline (Sept. 22) Peter Palmer, who majored in music while playing football at the U. of I. in the early 1950s and routinely performed the national anthem at games, was cast as Broadway’s naïve, muscle-bound hero of Dogpatch. Share on Facebook Tweet Email