35 Facts About Gus Dorais

Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator.

Gus Dorais was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954.

Gus Dorais was the son of David Dorais, a native of Quebec, and Malvina Dorais, a Wisconsin native sometimes referred to as Mary.

Gus Dorais remained with his mother, who took in laundry, worked as a midwife, and did odd jobs to support her children.

Gus Dorais' father moved to Montana where he worked in the mines and died of acute alcoholism in a Butte boarding house in November 1911.

Gus Dorais attended Chippewa Falls High School and was captain of the school's 1909 football team that won the state championship.

Gus Dorais was rated as "the star" of the 1911 team, winning praise for his tackling on defense.

At the team banquet following the 1911 season, Gus Dorais was elected by his teammates as the captain of the 1912 team.

Gus Dorais shone for Notre Dame in multiple roles in 1913, as a dual threat quarterback on offense and as a defender, punter, placekicker, and punt returner.

Gus Dorais was the first consensus All-American in Notre Dame history.

Gus Dorais later played professional football for the Massillon Tigers and Fort Wayne Friars.

In 1916, Gus Dorais was the star of the Fort Wayne Friars.

In June 1914, Gus Dorais was hired by Dubuque College, a Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa.

Gus Dorais served as the school's football, basketball, and track coach, athletic director, teacher, and chairman of commercial law.

In December 1917, Dorais was inducted into the Army during World War I He was assigned to the officer training corps at Camp Dodge in central Iowa.

In May 1920, Gus Dorais was hired as the athletic director at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school located in Spokane, Washington.

Gus Dorais served as the head coach of the Gonzaga football, basketball, baseball, and track teams for the next five years.

Gus Dorais earned $4,000 per year at Gonzaga and was kept for a fifth season in 1924 when boosters helped raise his salary to $7,000 to prevent him from leaving for Detroit.

In February 1925, Gus Dorais reached an agreement with the University of Detroit, giving him complete control of the school's athletic program as both athletic director and coach of various teams, including the football team.

Gus Dorais remained the University of Detroit's athletic director and head football coach for 18 seasons from 1925 to 1942.

Gus Dorais was the head coach of the basketball team for his first four years at the school from 1925 to 1929.

Gus Dorais recruited and coached elite athletes to the school, including Lloyd Brazil, fullback Andy Farkas, halfback Doug Nott, Al Ghesquiere, and Vince Banonis.

Gus Dorais was the college team coach for the fourth College All-Star Game in 1937 in Chicago, in which college seniors from the previous season played against the defending NFL champions in a pre-season game on September 1.

In January 1943, Gus Dorais left the University of Detroit at age 51 to become the head coach, general manager, and part owner of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.

Gus Dorais found the title flattering, but said he felt the honor was misplaced and should instead be applied to Eddie Cochems who used the forward pass extensively as head coach of the Saint Louis Billikens in 1906.

Gus Dorais received numerous posthumous honors for his contributions to the sport.

In 1939, Gus Dorais became a candidate for the Detroit Common Council.

Gus Dorais received the second highest vote count among all the candidates, served four terms, and was an advocate for the expansion of the city's recreation and play facilities.

Gus Dorais resigned from the Common Council in May 1947.

In 1949, Gus Dorais moved to Wabash, Indiana, where he purchased an automobile dealership with his son, William.

In September 1950, Gus Dorais underwent exploratory surgery for cancer at the Mayo Clinic.

In June 1952, Gus Dorais agreed to return to coaching as the backfield coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Gus Dorais became ill with a circulatory disorder and moved to Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, in 1953.

Anorexia, with a duration of two years, was listed on the death certificate as an antecedent cause; Gus Dorais weighed only 67 pounds at the time of his death.

Gus Dorais's funeral, held at Gesu Church, in Detroit, and he was interred at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.