Angus Goetz
{{Short description|American football player (1897–1977)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name = Gus Goetz
| image = Angus Goetz (captain).jpg
| caption = Angus Goetz, 1920
| number = 14
| birth_date = July 6, 1897
| birth_place = DeTour, Michigan, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1977|7|24|1897|7|6}}
| death_place = Grosse Pointe, Michigan, U.S.
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 3
| weight_lb = 198
| high_school = Sault Ste. Marie (MI)
| college = Michigan
| teams =
- Buffalo All-Americans ({{NFL Year|1922}})
- Columbus Tigers ({{NFL Year|1923}})
| highlights =
- National champion (1918)
- Second-team All-American (1920)
- Third-team All-American (1918)
- First-team All-Big Ten (1920)
| statlabel1 = Games played
| statvalue1 = 9
| statlabel2 = Games started
| statvalue2 = 9
| pfr = GoetGu20
}}
Angus Gerald "Gus" Goetz (July 6, 1897 – July 24, 1977) was an American football player who played four years with the Michigan Wolverines from 1917 to 1920. He also played professional football for the Buffalo All-Americans (1922) and the Columbus Tigers (1923).
College career
A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Goetz graduated from Sault Area High School in 1915 and went on to study medicine and play football at the University of Michigan. Goetz played varsity football at Michigan for four years from 1917 to 1920. He started nine games as a left end in his freshman year and moved to the left tackle position in his sophomore, junior and senior years.
Goetz was a star for at tackle on the undefeated 1918 Michigan Wolverines football team. In a season shortened to five games due to the deadly 1918 flu epidemic and war-related travel restrictions, the Wolverines were 5–0 and national champions. They shut out four of their opponents and outscored their opponents 96–6. In Michigan's first game against the University of Chicago in 13 years, Goetz scored a touchdown in the Wolverines' 13–0 victory.{{cite news|title=Michigan Defeats Chicago|publisher=Logansport Tribune|date=1918-11-10}} Goetz also had the key play in a 14–0 shutout over Ohio State. The game was scoreless when Ohio State attempted to punt out of its end zone, and Goetz broke through and blocked the punt which was recovered for a touchdown.{{cite news| author=Keim, Bob|title=101 Greatest Moments|publisher=The Plain Dealer|date=2004-11-20}} He was selected as an All-Western Conference tackle in 1918. After an outstanding season in 1918, Goetz was elected as Michigan's captain for the 1919 season.{{cite news|title=Goetz Leads Wolverines|publisher=Des Moines Daily News|date=1918-12-17}} He was elected captain for a second time for the 1920 season, becoming one of only three two-time Michigan football captain between 1893 and 1984, the others being Kirk Lewis (1975, 1976) and Robert Thompson (1981, 1982).{{cite web|title=University of Michigan Football Wolverine Football Captains |publisher=University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library|url=https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbcapt/fbcapt.htm}}
In 1920, Goetz was described as "the mainstay of the Wolverine line and a player of exceptional ability." In November 1920, Edward Speyer, football writer for the Detroit News wrote: "There is one star on the team, and that is Goetz, a great player. ... It is a line from poor to good, with one great spot where Goetz stood ..."{{cite news|author=Edward Speyer|title=Angus Goetz is Called 'One Great Star' of Wolverines|publisher=Ironwood Daily Globe (reprinted from the Detroit News)|date=1920-11-15}} He was selected in 1920 as a first-team All-Western Conference player,{{cite news|author=Luther A. Ruston|title=All-West Conference Teams Include Stars|publisher=The Duluth News Tribune (INS wire service)|date=1920-12-12}} and a second-team All-American by Walter Camp.{{cite news|title=Five Wolverines To Leave College|publisher=Portsmouth Daily Times (Ohio)|date=1924-02-04}}{{cite news|title=Five Michigan Grid Stars Bid Farewell: Goetz, Vick, Kipke, Uteritz and Blott Complete Studies Next Spring|publisher=Appleton Post-Crescent|date=1924-02-18}}
Goetz was also elected president of the University of Michigan Student Council in 1920 and attended the Midwest Student Conference as a Michigan delegate in April 1922.{{cite news|title=Talk|publisher=The Lexington Herald|date=1922-04-21}}
When he finished his college football career at Michigan, he had the distinction of having "played more minutes for Michigan than any other player in the university's history."{{cite news|title=Angus Goetz, Wolverine Leader Will Graduate from School This Year|publisher=The Duluth News Tribune|date=1920-11-28}} In a 1920 profile of Goetz, the Associated Press noted: "Perhaps his most notable distinction lies in the fact that no time has been taken out for him during any game in the four years that he has been in the Michigan machine."
While continuing his medical school studies at Michigan, Goetz also worked as an assistant line coach under coach Fielding H. Yost during the 1921 football season.{{Cite web|url=https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1921fbt.htm|title = 1921 Football Team -- University of Michigan Athletics}}
Professional career
In 1922, Goetz was offered $240 a game for 10 professional football games. Goetz asked his former coach Fielding H. Yost what to do, and Yost told him he would lose his "M" if he played professional football. According to Yost, Goetz tore up the contract, and Yost told a conference of football coaches in New York, "The loss of his 'M' wasn't worth $2,400 to Angus Goetz."{{cite news|title=Michigan Star Prizes His 'M'|publisher=Bismarck Tribune|date=1924-01-21}} However, despite Yost's opinions, Goetz did later have a short run in professional football, playing nine games for the Buffalo All-Americans in 1922 and the Columbus Tigers in 1923.{{cite web|title=Gus Goetz player profile|publisher=Pro-Football-Reference.com|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GoetGu20.htm}} Goetz played professional football on the weekends while attending medical school. He later recalled, "We used to huddle in a hotel lobby before games to go over some signals. The game then wasn't like it is today."
Medical career
Goetz completed his internship at the University Hospital in Ann Arbor in 1924. Goetz became a leading orthopedic surgeon in Detroit. He served in World War II and returned to Detroit in 1945 where he established an orthopedic practice in downtown Detroit.{{cite web|title=About Us|publisher=Associated Orthopedists of Detroit|url=http://associatedortho.org//}} He went on to become the chief of orthopedics at Detroit Receiving Hospital, and continued to practice medicine until his retirement in 1972.
Awards and honors
He was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in Marquette, Michigan in 1974.{{cite news|title=11 Are Inducted Into U.P. Sports Hall of Fame at Marquette Event|publisher=Ironwood Daily Globe|date=1974-03-19}} He also received the "Distinguished Alumni Award" from Sault Area High School in 1973.{{cite news|author=Bill Crawford|title=Goetz received as 'Distinguished Alumna: Sault Area High School athlete honored at annual Spring banquet|publisher=The Evening News|location=Sault Ste. Marie, contributions|date=1973-05-20}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbcapt/1919capt.htm Bentley Library profile of Goetz]
- {{Footballstats |nfl=2514992 |pfr=G/GoetGu20}}
{{1918 Michigan Wolverines football navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goetz, Angus}}
Category:American football tackles
Category:Buffalo All-Americans players
Category:Columbus Tigers players
Category:Michigan Wolverines football coaches
Category:Michigan Wolverines football players
Category:American military personnel of World War II
Category:American orthopedic surgeons
Category:Sportspeople from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Category:Physicians from Michigan
Category:Players of American football from Michigan