Boston College was football back then

When we were kids in the 1940s and 1950s, the National Football League was something we didn't even think about.

Our attention in those days was focused on college football, and Boston College was our team.

The Eagles had built quite a reputation in the early'40s when the great Frank Leahy, later Notre Dame coach, was the head man for BC and his genius produced two major bowl teams in 1940 and 1941.

Leahy coached BC for two years and went 20-2 before leaving for South Bend and the Irish.

My uncle John, who was a pretty good football player at St. James High in Haverhill, went to BC in those days but was unable to play because of a knee injury. His friend, Gene Goudreaut, also from Haverhill, was the starting end on that team and actually earned All-America honors in 1941. So you see, we had reasons to like BC other than the fact they were pretty much the only game in town.

In 1940, BC earned a shot at the Cotton Bowl, went to Texas and lost to Clemson. The next year, a determined BC squad led by Goudreault and another All-America in Charlie O'Rourke made it to No. 5 in the country, went to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and defeated a vaunted Tennessee team, 19-3.

A sidebar to the BC team, which shows the way things were back then, was not allowing Lou Montgomery, an African-American, to play in the Sugar Bowl because of his color.

My uncle told me the team agonized over the decision by the Sugar Bowl people but it was Montgomery himself who told his teammates to go to Louisiana and play in the game because, "They earned it."

Montgomery, who died several years ago, was a fine running back out of Brockton High, and his selfless attitude was no doubt an inspiration to the Eagles.

Members of that BC team besides Goudreault and O'Rourke, included Mike Holovak, who went on to play pro ball with the Rams and the Bears; John Yauckos; George Kerr, who went on to become a highly respected monsignor in the Catholic Church; Chester Gladchuck; Joe Zabilski; Henry Woronicz; Frank "Monk" Maznicki; Henry Toczlowski and Don Currivan. O'Rourke also enjoyed a pro career with the old Los Angeles Dons, Baltimore Colts and the Bears.

College ball has changed a lot since that team traversed "The Heights" and led BC to national prominence.

I remember Holovak speaking to us at a CYO dinner and telling us that Gene Goudreault might have been the best player on that team, despite the heroics of O'Rourke, who certainly got the most publicity.

Holovak coached BC from 1951 to 1959 and later coached the then-Boston Patriots from 1961 to 1968.

Those were different days, but those men were our heroes when we were young.

Michael J. Burke, of Holyoke, is retired from The Republican. He can be reached at ekrubm@verizon.net