Gene Goodreault

Eugene Joseph "Gene" Goodreault[1] (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.

Gene Goodreault
Born:(1918-07-31)July 31, 1918
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Died:July 13, 2010(2010-07-13) (aged 91)
Orinda, California
Career information
Position(s)E
CollegeBoston College
NFL draft1941 / Round: 2 / Pick: 15
Drafted byDetroit Lions

Early years

Goodreault was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1917. His parents were Eugene J. Goodreault and Rose M. (Paquette) Goodreault. He attended Haverhill High School where he was known as "Goo-Goo" Goodreault and was a member of the football, baseball and track teams.[2]

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.[3]

As a member of Boston College's football team, Goodreault was five feet, ten inches tall and weighed 180 pounds.[4] 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."[4] 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.[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 to 52, recorded six shutouts, and defeated #6 Tennessee in the 1941 Sugar Bowl. After the season, Goodreault was selected as a consensus player on the 1940 College Football All-America Team.[6] He received first-team honors from, among others, the United Press,[7] the International News Service,[8] the Central Press Association,[9] and Collier's Weekly (selected by Grantland Rice).[10]

Later years

Goodreault was selected in the second round (15th overall pick) in the 1941 NFL Draft,[11] 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.[12]

Goodreault was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.[4] He was also honored by Boston College as one of the inaugural inductees into its Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1970.[3] In 2001, Boston College retired his #50 jersey in a halftime ceremony at Alumni Stadium.[12]

Goodreault moved to California in 2004. He died from cancer in 2010 at age 91 in Orinda, California.[12]

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References
  1. Full name from Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Index, 1901-1960 and 1967-1970 [database on-line]. Eugene Joseph Goodreault born 1918 at Haverhill, Mass.
  2. 1937 Haverhill High School yearbook ("The Thinker"), page 45.
  3. "Former Football Star Gene Goodreault Dies: Goodreault was a consensus All-America end for Coach Frank Leahy's Eagles in the 1940 season". Boston College. July 15, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  4. "Gene Goodreault". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  5. "Lowe Trophy To Gene Goodreault". Boston College Heights. December 8, 1939. p. 1.
  6. "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  7. Harry Ferguson (1940-12-04). "Albert Named on United Press All-America 11". Lodi News-Sentinel.
  8. "Michigan, Minnesota Dominate All-America". St. Petersburg Times. 1940-12-03.
  9. Walter L. Johns (1940-12-10). "Captains Pick All-America for Central Press; Reinhard on List". Berkeley Daily Gazette.
  10. "Goodreault Makes Colliers Eleven". Lewiston Evening Journal. December 6, 1940. p. 16.
  11. "1941 NFL Player Draft". Database Football. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  12. Zach Wielgus (July 15, 2010). "Boston College Football Legend Gene Goodreault Dies". NESN. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
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