Doug Goodman is more than 40 years removed from his time at Edinboro University.

But the Freeport graduate and Fighting Scots football and track and field standout recently has spent a lot of time reminiscing about his collegiate accomplishments.

Goodman, a 1977 Edinboro graduate, is the elder statesman of the 39th class of the Edinboro University Athletic Hall of Fame. The group will be inducted in a ceremony tentatively set for Sept. 4.

“This is a great honor,” said Goodman, who was enshrined into the Armstrong County Hall of Fame in 2013 with former Freeport teammate George “Butch” Aggen.

“I was an offensive lineman, and we don’t often get much coverage like others who run for touchdowns or catch passes. We might get our names mentioned at the beginning of the game, and then that’s it. You don’t really think too much about (a hall of fame) until someone nominates you and says you are deserving. I really appreciate that someone remembered me.”

Goodman, who lives in Meadville with his wife, Dixie, was a two-sport competitor at Edinboro. In football, he started as a true freshman at 186 pounds and lettered all four years at center. As a senior in 1976, he was elected team captain and went on to earn All-PSAC West and All-NAIA District 18 first-team honors.

A year earlier, he helped Edinboro claim the PSAC West championship.

“At the time, I really didn’t appreciate the head coach, Bill McDonald, as much as I should have,” Goodman said. “Years later, I realized how fortunate I was to have him for four years. He was truly a gentleman, and he truly had the players’ best welfare at heart. He helped mold a number of great teams with great players.”

Goodman also threw the javelin for the Fighting Scots track and field team and was a three-year letterman.

“I feel very humbled to be a part of this great class,” said Goodman, who will share the stage with standouts such as Trevor Harris, a record-setting quarterback who plays in the Canadian Football League; Jarrod King, a Connellsville grad who was an All-American and Division I national wrestling champion; and Samantha (Reimer) Faler, Edinboro women’s basketball’s all-time career scoring leader.

Goodman fondly remembers the matchups in college between he and Aggen, who started four years for IUP at nose guard.

“George was a year older, and they redshirted him,” Goodman said. “For four years, he and I went head to head. It was always special. We would work out together in the summertime, and come the fall, we were banging heads.”

Goodman said he enjoys keeping in touch with former college teammates and other Edinboro players throughout the 1970s each year at fall tailgate parties.

Goodman said a good foundation for collegiate success formed during his time at Freeport.

He was a three-year letterman in both track and football, and as a senior starting center and defensive tackle, he helped the 1972 Yellowjackets finish as the WPIAL Class AA runner-up to Beaver at Pitt Stadium.

“When I went to Edinboro, everything we were doing there I already had at Freeport for a couple of years,” Goodman said. “The transition was very easy. Don Early was a terrific coach, and all his assistants were all on the same page.”

Goodman’s accomplishments at Freeport were not solely as a football player. In track, he set a school record in the javelin — 191 feet, 8 inches — that stood for several years. He was the 1973 WPIAL javelin champion and qualified for the PIAA state championships.

These days, Goodman, who has worked in insurance, sales, industrial supply and the steel industry since his college graduation, enjoys the outdoors and likes to hunt and fish. He keeps busy restoring an old barn on farm property he and his wife own.

Daughters Megan and Makenzie followed in their father’s athletic footsteps at Meadville High School. Megan went on to play four years of volleyball in college at Washington & Jefferson.

“Doug had a super career at both Freeport and Edinboro,” said Bill Dillen, an athlete at Freeport who went onto a successful coaching careers in football and track and field at the school.

“He was a tough, no-nonsense player. That’s the way the kids were back then. He really paid attention to detail and held a lot of responsibility at center. He had the combination of being a great athlete and a great student, too.”

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