Biography
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced that former Princeton kicker Charlie Gogolak and former Cornell kicker Pete Gogolak have been named co-recipients of the 2015 NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award.
“The Gogolak brothers created a lasting legacy as the pioneers of the modern place-kicking motion, and their impact on the game of football has been felt for more than 50 years,” said NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell. “From humble beginnings, the Gogolaks were raised in Budapest, and the family fled the country during the Hungarian Revolution. With no soccer team at their high school in upper New York State, the two tried out for football, and the rest is history. We are honored to recognize their important contributions to football, as well as their long journey to the U.S., at our Annual Awards Dinner in December.”
Born in Hungary, Pete Gogolak began to play soccer at age 13 for the Hungarian Junior National team. However, the family fled the country during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, settling in Ogdensburg, N.Y. The boys enrolled at Ogdensburg Free Academy, and Pete began playing football since the school did not have a soccer team. Charlie starred a few years later as the school’s punter. Pete played offensive and defensive end. He practiced kicking on the side, mastering a soccer-style kick as opposed to the popular toe kick. Pete earned a scholarship to Cornell by sending in a film of him kicking 45-yard field goals. In his first game for Cornell, Pete converted three field goals, including a 49-yarder.
While at Cornell, Pete connected on 54-of-55 extra points, he and set a major college record by connecting on 44 consecutive PATs from 1961-63. He still holds the school record for consecutive conversions and career conversion percentage (.982). His 50-yard field goal against Lehigh in 1963 was the nation’s longest in a major college game at the time. He booted nine career field goals, including eight of 40 yards or more.
Following his graduation from Cornell in 1964, Pete signed with the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League, bringing his unorthodox kicking style to the professional level. He converted 47-of-75 field goals and 76-of-77 extra points, helping the Bills to two AFL titles in 1964 and 1965. In 1965, he was named Sporting News AFL All-League, and he was selected to the AFL All-Star Game.
Pete became a prime factor in the merger of the AFL and the NFL when he was signed by the NFL’s New York Giants. In nine seasons with the Giants, he set league records for PATs in a game (eight), consecutive PATs made (133), field goals attempted (219) and field goals made (126). Pete also holds Giants’ franchise records for most PATs attempted (277) and PATs made (268). Other kickers began to adopt the new kicking style and by 1973, NFL kickers had increased their field goal percentage to 63.1 percent from 48.6 percent in 1963.
Pete began working at RR Donnelly, a Manhattan based financial printing firm, immediately after his retirement from the NFL, and he served more than 40 years as the vice president of sales. In 1984, he was selected to the Buffalo Bills Silver Anniversary Team. In 2010, the New York Giants announced that he would be included in the team's new Ring of Honor in MetLife Stadium. He is also a member of the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame.
Charlie had never kicked a field goal before he arrived at Princeton, but he sold himself to College Football Hall of Fame head coach Dick Colman. He went on to become a First Team All-Ivy League selection in 1964 and 1965, the first two years the league honored a placekicker, and he was named a First Team All-American in 1965. Charlie converted 16-of-23 field goals in 1965, highlighted by a perfect 6-for-6 performance in a 32-6 win over Rutgers. He kicked a perfect 33-for-33 on PATs in 1965 and 89-for-94 in his career. Charlie finished his career with seven NCAA kicking records and broke his brother Pete’s record by connecting on 50 extra points without a miss.
Charlie became the first placekicker selected in the first round of the NFL Draft when he was taken with the sixth overall pick by the Washington Redskins. In three seasons with the Redskins, he converted 32-of-57 field goals and 72-of-75 extra points. In a 72-41 Redskins win over the Giants in 1966, Pete and Charlie combined for 14 extra points, tied for the most ever in NFL history. Pete played another three seasons with the New England Patriots, converting 20-of-36 field goals and 42-of-42 PATs.
Charlie received his law degree from George Washington University during his Redskins playing days and retired from A.G. Edwards, a Boston based brokerage firm, in 2009. He served on the Princeton admissions committee and the Board of Trustees for the Northeast Harbor (Maine) Library, and he was awarded the Abraham Lincoln Award for Citizenship by the American-Hungarian Foundation. Charlie was also a volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club and formerly coached a boys’ soccer team in New Jersey. He was named to the Ivy League Silver Anniversary All-Star Team in 1981 and is a member of Princeton’s All-Century Team.
