Gene Goodreault
{{Short description|American football player (1918–2010)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college football player
| embed =
| name = Gene Goodreault
| image = Gene Goodreault (1937).png
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| school = Boston College Eagles
| currentnumber = 50
| currentposition = End
| class = Graduate
| pastschools =
- Boston College (1938–1940)
| bowlgames =
| highschool = Haverhill
(Haverhill, MA)
| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|07|31}}
| birth_place = Haverhill, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|07|13|1918|07|31}}
| death_place = Orinda, California, U.S.
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 10
| weight_lb = 184
| highlights =
- National champion (1940)
- Sugar Bowl champion (1940)
- Consensus All-American (1940)
- Boston College Eagles Jersey No. 50 retired
| CFBHOF_id = 1458
| CFBHOF_year = 1982
}}
Eugene Joseph GoodreaultFull name from Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Index, 1901-1960 and 1967-1970 [database on-line]. Eugene Joseph Goodreault born 1918 at Haverhill, Mass. (July 31, 1918 – July 13, 2010) was an American football player. He played at the end position for Boston College from 1938 to 1940 and was selected as a consensus first-team All-American in 1940. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.
Early years
Born in 1918, Goodreault attended Haverhill High School in Massachusetts where he was known as "Goo-Goo" Goodreault and was a member of the football, baseball and track teams.1937 Haverhill High School yearbook ("The Thinker"), page 45.
Boston College
Goodreault enrolled at Boston College in 1937. The school's publicity director, Billy Sullivan (later owner of the New England Patriots) befriended Goodreault and helped him to obtain therapy to overcome a speech impediment.
As a member of Boston College's football team, Goodreault was five feet, ten inches tall and weighed 180 pounds. His profile at the College Football Hall of Fame described him as follows: "Fast, powerful and alert, Gene Goodreault was outstanding as a pass-catcher and play-maker blocker on offense and as a play-blaster, destructive tackler on defense." In 1939, Goodreault's junior year, Frank Leahy was hired as the head of the Boston College Eagles football team. Goodreault helped lead the Eagles to a 9-2 record and the school's first bowl game, and appearance in the 1940 Cotton Bowl. At the end of the 1939 season, Goodreault received All-East honors and was also the first recipient of the George H. "Bulger" Lowe Trophy in 1940 as the outstanding football player in New England.{{cite news|title=Lowe Trophy To Gene Goodreault|newspaper=Boston College Heights|date=December 8, 1939|page=1|url=http://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=bcheights19391208.2.5#}}
As a senior, Goodreault was a member of the 1940 Boston College team that compiled an undefeated record of 11-0, outscored opponents 320–52, recorded six shutouts, and defeated No. 4 Tennessee in the 1941 Sugar Bowl. After the season, Goodreault was selected as a consensus player on the 1940 College Football All-America Team.{{cite web|title=2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections |publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) |year=2014 |accessdate=August 16, 2014 |pages=5–6 |url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2014/Awards.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006082159/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2014/Awards.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 6, 2014 }} He received first-team honors from, among others, the United Press,{{cite news|author=Harry Ferguson|title=Albert Named on United Press All-America 11|newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel|date=1940-12-04|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hnMzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=A-8HAAAAIBAJ&pg=6512,3500692&dq=goodreault+suffridge&hl=en}} the International News Service,{{cite news|title=Michigan, Minnesota Dominate All-America|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|date=1940-12-03|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4bsKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W00DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5691,985539&dq=goodreault+suffridge&hl=en}} the Central Press Association,{{cite news|author=Walter L. Johns|title=Captains Pick All-America for Central Press; Reinhard on List|newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette|date=1940-12-10|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EC4xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LuQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1656,3364767&dq=goodreault+suffridge&hl=en}} and Collier's Weekly (selected by Grantland Rice).{{cite news|title=Goodreault Makes Colliers Eleven|newspaper=Lewiston Evening Journal|date=December 6, 1940|page=16|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19401206&id=G5g0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=52kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5715,5643071}}
Later years
Goodreault was selected in the second round (15th overall pick) in the 1941 NFL draft,{{Cite web |title=1941 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1941/draft.htm |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}{{cite web|title=1941 NFL Player Draft |publisher=Database Football |url=http://www.databasefootball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=NFL&yr=1941 |accessdate=2008-07-05 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327011803/http://www.databasefootball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1941&lg=NFL |archivedate=2008-03-27 }} but he did not play in the NFL. He served in the United States Navy during World War II and operated a wool brokerage business in Massachusetts after the war. He lived in Haverhill until 2004.
Goodreault was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.{{College Football HoF|id=1458|name=Gene Goodreault|accessdate=September 4, 2014}} He was also honored by Boston College as one of the inaugural inductees into its Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1970.{{cite web|title=Former Football Star Gene Goodreault Dies: Goodreault was a consensus All-America end for Coach Frank Leahy's Eagles in the 1940 season|date=July 15, 2010|publisher=Boston College|accessdate=September 4, 2014|url=http://www.bceagles.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/071510aaa.html|archive-date=January 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119002830/http://www.bceagles.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/071510aaa.html|url-status=dead}} In 2001, Boston College retired his #50 jersey in a halftime ceremony at Alumni Stadium.
Goodreault moved to California in 2004. He died from cancer in 2010 at age 91 in Orinda, California.{{cite news|title=Boston College Football Legend Gene Goodreault Dies |author=Zach Wielgus |date=July 15, 2010 |publisher=NESN |accessdate=September 4, 2014 |url=http://nesn.com/2010/07/boston-college-football-legend-gene-goodreault-dies/}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{1940 Boston College Eagles football navbox}}
{{1940 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{Lions1941DraftPicks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodreault, Gene}}
Category:All-American college football players
Category:American football ends
Category:Boston College Eagles football players
Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Sportspeople from Haverhill, Massachusetts
Category:Players of American football from Essex County, Massachusetts