Dorais, "Gus" (Charles E.)
Football
b. July 2, 1891, Chippewa Falls, WI
d. Jan. 3, 1954
In the summer of 1913, Dorais and his Notre Dame teammate Knute Rockne worked at the Cedar Point Resort in Sandusky, OH. During their free time, they practiced passing on the beach with Dorais, a quarterback, throwing to Rockne, an end.
Rockne later wrote, "We mastered the technique of catching the football with hands relaxed and tried to master the more difficult feat of catching it with one hand."
After outscoring its first three opponents 169 to 7, Notre Dame traveled to West Point to face a heavily favored Army team. Dorais completed his first 12 passes, 3 of them for touchdowns, in a 35-13 victory. The win established Notre Dame as a genuine football power for the first time, and it also alerted other teams to the possibility of using the pass as a basic offensive weapon.
The 5-foot-7, 145-pound Dorais was a fast, elusive runner and dangerous kick returner as well as an accurate passer. During his three years as a starter at Notre Dame, the school won 20 games and tied 2 without a loss.
Dorais played for several professional teams, including the Massillon Tigers, before the NFL was organized. He coached at Columbus (now Loras) College in Iowa from 1914 through 1917, at Gonzaga University from 1920 through 1924, and at Detroit University from 1925 through 1942. His overall record was 150 wins, 70 losses, and 13 ties. He had a 20-31-2 record with the NFL's Detroit Lions from 1943 through 1947.