- Gus Dorais
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Gus Dorais Sport(s) Football, basketball, baseball Biographical details Born July 2, 1891 Place of birth Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin Died January 3, 1954 (aged 62)Place of death Birmingham, Michigan Playing career Football
1910–1913
1915–1916
1918–1919
Notre Dame
Fort Wayne Friars
Massillon TigersPosition(s) Quarterback Coaching career (HC unless noted) Football
1914–1917
1919
1920–1924
1925–1942
1943–1947
1952
Basketball
1918–1920
1920–1926
1925–1928
Baseball
1919–1920
1921–1925
Columbia (IA)
Notre Dame (assistant)
Gonzaga
Detroit
Detroit Lions
Pittsburgh Steelers (backfield)
Notre Dame
Gonzaga
Detroit
Notre Dame
GonzagaHead coaching record Overall 150–70–12 (college football)
20–31–2 (NFL)
93–113 (basketball)
41–31–1 (baseball)Statistics College Football Data Warehouse Accomplishments and honors Awards All-American, 1913 College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1954 (profile)Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais (July 2, 1891 – January 3, 1954) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame, where he was an All-American in 1913, and then professionally with the Fort Wayne Friars and Massillon Tigers. Dorais served as the head football coach at Columbia College in Dubuque, Iowa, now known as Loras College (1914–1917), Gonzaga University (1920–1924), and the University of Detroit, now known as the University of Detroit Mercy (1925–1942), compiling a career college football coaching record of 150–70–12. He was also the head coach of the NFL's Detroit Lions from 1943 to 1947, tallying a mark of 20–31–2. In addition, he was the head basketball coach at Notre Dame, Detroit Mercy, and Gonzaga and the head baseball coach at Notre Dame and Gonzaga. Dorais was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954.
Contents
Playing career
Dorais, who arrived at the University of Notre Dame from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in the summer of 1910, started four seasons for the Fighting Irish at quarterback, but it was during his senior season that he became part of college football history. During the summer of 1913, Dorais and his Notre Dame teammate Knute Rockne worked as lifeguards and busboys at Cedar Point Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. During their free time there, the story goes, the duo practiced passing on the beach with Dorais throwing to Rockne, an end.[citation needed]
"We mastered the technique of losing the football with hands relaxed and tried to master the more difficult feat of catching it with one hand," Rockne later wrote.[citation needed]
The Irish, 17–1–3 in Dorais' first three seasons as a starter, outscored their first three opponents in 1913 by a margin of 169–7. On November 1, 1913, the Irish, still known mainly in the Midwest at the time despite just one loss in three seasons, traveled to West Point, New York with a roster size of only eighteen players to face heavily-favored Army. Although Dorais and Rockne are often credited with inventing the forward pass that day against the Cadets, the maneuver had been legal since 1906, and had been used by several lower-profile programs. In 1952, Dorais himself tried to set the record straight, telling the United Press that "Eddie Cochems of the St. Louis University team of 1906-07-08 deserves the full credit."[1]
Dorais first completed a pass to Rockne two seasons before. But against Army in 1913, Dorais, an Irish co-captain and the first Irish player named a consensus All-American, completed 14 of 17 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns. At the time, his 40-yard pass to Rockne was the longest pass ever completed, and after taking a 14–13 halftime lead, Notre Dame pulled away from a confused Army team for a 35–13 victory that changed the landscape of college football and lifted the Irish out of obscurity.
From that point forward, no longer was the forward pass an obscure weapon, or a little-used gimmick to be used when trailing late in games. "The press and the football public hailed this new game, and Notre Dame received credit as the originator of a style of play that we simply systematized," Rockne said.[citation needed]
In addition to playing quarterback, Dorais was also the team's placekicker.
Coaching career
Dorais and Rockne were roommates at Notre Dame, and in their coaching days, Dorais served as an assistant under Rockne. Dorais served as head coach at Columbia College from 1914 to 1917, assistant at Notre Dame 1919, head coach at Gonzaga University from 1920 to 1924, and head coach at the University of Detroit Mercy from 1925 to 1942. His record at Detroit was 113–48–7. nick also helped coach and was the defensive coordinator. In high school was an all state linebacker
Dorais was the college team coach for the 1937 College All-Star Game, in which college seniors played against the NFL championship team. With Sammy Baugh at quarterback, this was the first All-Star team to beat the pros. From 1943 to 1947, Dorais coached the Detroit Lions of the National Football League. He retired after his tenure with the Lions but came out of retirement for one season in 1952 to serve as the backfield coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Joe Bach.
References
- ^ Casserly, Hank, "Hank Casserly Says", The Capital Times, page 1, September 17, 1952
External links
- Gus Dorais at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Gus Dorais at the College Football Data Warehouse
- Gus Dorais at Pro-Football-Reference.com
- Gus Dorais at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Notre Dame Fighting Irish starting quarterbacks Cartier • Cusack • E. Coady • P. Coady • Zeitler • Dinkel • Walsh • Hering • Waters • Fleming • McDonald • Diebold • McGlew • Silver • Bracken • Ryan • Hamilton • Dorais • Bergman • Phelan • Mohn • Bahan • Brandy • Grant • Thomas • Stuhldreher • Edwards • Riley • Brady • Carideo • Jaskwhich • Bonar • Fromhart • Puplis • Sitko • Hargrave • Bertelli • Dancewicz • Lujack • Tripucka • B. Williams • Mazur • Guglielmi • Hornung • R. Williams • Izo • Haffner • Lamonica • Budka • Huarte • Zloch • Hanratty • Theismann • Steenberge • Etter • Brown • Clements • Slager • Montana • Lisch • Courey • Kiel • Beuerlein • Andrysiak • Rice • Mirer • McDougal • Powlus • Jackson • Battle • LoVecchio • Holiday • Quinn • Jones • Sharpley • Clausen • Crist • ReesLoras Duhawks head football coaches John Chalmers (1907–1913) • Gus Dorais (1914–1917) • Walter Martin (1918–1919) • Ira Davenport (1920–1921) • Eddie Anderson (1922–1924) • Elmer Layden (1925–1926) • John Armstrong (1927–1931) • Jerry Jones (1932–1933) • John Niemiec (1934–1937) • Len Winter (1938–1940) • Vince Dowd (1941–1942) • No team (1943–1944) • Vince Dowd (1945–1946) • Wally Fromhart (1947–1950) • Richard Friend (1951–1952) • Michael Scarry (1953) • Ed Murphy (1954) • Charles Toole (1955–1957) • Robert Zahren (1958–1959) • No team (1960–1969) • Don Hendricks (1970–1974) • Steve McGrath (1975) • Bob Bucko (1976) • Claude Maddox (1977) • Dave Ostrander (1978–1979) • Bob Bierie (1980–2004) • Chris Klieman (2005) • Steve Osterberger (2006–2010) • Paul Mierkiewicz (2011– )
Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball head coaches Frank E. Hering (1898) • J. Fred Powers (1899) • No team (1899–1907) • Bertram Maris (1907–1912) • Bill Nelson (1912–1913) • Jesse Harper (1913–1918) • Gus Dorais (1918–1920) • Walter Halas (1920–1923) • George Keogan (1923–1943) • Moose Krause (1943–1944) • Clem Crowe (1944–1945) • Elmer Ripley (1945–1946) • Moose Krause (1946–1951) • John Jordan (1951–1964) • John Dee (1964–1971) • Digger Phelps (1971–1991) • John MacLeod (1991–1999) • Matt Doherty (1999–2000) • Mike Brey (2000–)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head baseball coaches No coach (1892) • No team (1893) • No coach (1894–1896) • Frank E. Hering (1897–1899) • Charles Stahl (1900) • No coach (1901–1902) • Robert Lynch (1903) • No coach (1904–1905) • Harry Arndt (1906) • Lou Criger (1907) • Harry Curtis (1908–1909) • Ed Smith (1910) • Albert Kelly (1911) • Ed Smith (1912) • Fred Williams (1913) • Jesse Harper (1914–1918) • Gus Dorais (1919–1920) • Walter Halas (1921–1923) • George Keogan (1924–1926) • Tommy Mills (1927–1929) • George Keogan (1930–1933) • Clarence Kline (1934–1975) • Tom Kelly (1976–1980) • Larry Gallo (1981–1987) • Pat Murphy (1988–1994) • Paul Mainieri (1995–2006) • Dave Schrage (2007–2010) • Mik Aoki (2011– )
Gonzaga Bulldogs head football coaches Unknown (1887–1891) • Harry Luhn (1892–1893) • No team (1894–1895) • Harry Luhn (1896–1898) • No team (1899–1906) • Unknown (1907) • George Varnell (1908–1911) • Fred Burns (1912) • Robert E. Harmon (1913–1914) • William Coyle (1915) • John F. McGough (1916) • Guy Condon (1917) • C. A. Mullen (1918) • William S. Higgins (1919) • Gus Dorais (1920–1924) • Maurice J. "Clipper" Smith (1925–1928) • Robert L. Mathews (1929) • Ray Flaherty (1930) • Mike Pecarovich (1931–1938) • Puggy Hunton (1939–1941)
Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball head coaches No coach (1907–1908) • George Varnell (1908–1909) • William Mulligan (1909–1910) • Frank McKevitt (1910–1911) • Fred Burns (1911–1912) • Ed Mulholland (1912–1913) • Robert E. Harmon (1913–1915) • William S. Higgins (1915–1916) • John F. McGough (1916–1917) • Guy Condon (1917–1918) • Edward Geheves (1918–1920) • Gus Dorais (1920–1926) • Maurice Smith (1926–1931) • S. Dagly (1931–1932) • Perry Teneyck (1932–1933) • Claude McGrath (1933–1942) • B. Frasier (1942–1943) • Charles Henry (1943–1944) • Eugene Wozny (1944–1945) • Gordon White (1945–1946) • Claude McGrath (1946–1949) • L. T. Underwood (1949–1951) • Hank Anderson (1951–1972) • Adrian Buoncristiani (1972–1978) • Dan Fitzgerald (1978–1981) • Jay Hillock (1981–1985) • Dan Fitzgerald (1985–1997) • Dan Monson (1997–1999) • Mark Few (1999– )
Detroit Titans head football coaches Unknown (1891) • No team (1892–1895) • William S. Robinson (1896–1899) • John C. Mackey (1900–1901) • Edward Ryan (1902) • Alfred W. Debo (1903–1904) • No team (1905) • Edward Ryan (1906) • George A. Kelly (1907) • No team (1908) • George A. Kelly (1909–1910) • Royal R. Campbell (1911–1912) • George M. Lawton (1913–1914) • Harry Costello (1915–1916) • James F. Duffy (1917) • Unknown (1918) • James F. Duffy (1919–1922) • Germany Schulz (1923) • James F. Duffy (1924) • Gus Dorais (1925–1942) • No team (1943–1944) • Chuck Baer (1945–1950) • Dutch Clark (1951–1953) • Wally Fromhart (1954–1958) • Jim Miller (1959–1961) • John Idzik (1962–1964) • No team (1965–1966) • Jim Leary (1967–1968)
Detroit Titans men's basketball head coaches C. B. Lundy (1905–1907) • No team (1907–1909) • Royal R. Campbell (1909–1913) • Walter Hardy (1913–1916) • Royal R. Campbell (1916–1919) • James Brown (1919–1922) • Paul Harbrecht (1922–1923) • John Barrett (1923–1925) • Gus Dorais (1925–1929) • Louis Conroy (1929–1930) • Lloyd Brazil (1930–1946) • John Shada (1946–1948) • Bob Calihan (1948–1969) • Jim Harding (1969–1973) • Dick Vitale (1973–1977) • Smokey Gaines (1977–1979) • Willie McCarter (1979–1982) • Don Sicko (1982–1987) • John Mulroy # (1987–1988) • Ricky Byrdsong (1988–1993) • Perry Watson (1993–2008) • Kevin Mondro # (2008) • Ray McCallum (2008– )
Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.
Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions head coaches Hal Griffen (1930) • George Clark (1931–1936) • Dutch Clark (1937–1938) • Gus Henderson (1939) • George Clark (1940) • Bill Edwards (1941–1942) • John Karcis (1942) • Gus Dorais (1943–1947) • Bo McMillin (1948–1950) • Buddy Parker (1951–1956) • George Wilson (1957–1964) • Harry Gilmer (1965–1966) • Joe Schmidt (1967–1972) • Don McCafferty (1973) • Rick Forzano (1974–1976) • Tommy Hudspeth (1976–1977) • Monte Clark (1978–1984) • Darryl Rogers (1985–1988) • Wayne Fontes (1988–1996) • Bobby Ross (1997–2000) • Gary Moeller (2000) • Marty Mornhinweg (2001–2002) • Steve Mariucci (2003–2005) • Dick Jauron # (2005) • Rod Marinelli (2006–2008) • Jim Schwartz (2009– )
Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.Categories:- 1891 births
- 1954 deaths
- American football quarterbacks
- Detroit Lions coaches
- Detroit Titans men's basketball coaches
- Detroit Titans football coaches
- Fort Wayne Friars players
- Gonzaga Bulldogs football coaches
- Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball coaches
- Loras Duhawks football coaches
- Massillon Tigers players
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball coaches
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
- Pittsburgh Steelers coaches
- All-American college football players
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees
- People from Chippewa County, Wisconsin
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