Henry J. Downes (August 3, 1910 – February 5, 1970) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
player and coach.
Playing career
An All-American at
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
, his football playing career ended in 1931 due to an injury suffered against
Holy Cross. In 1933, he pitched for
Barnstable in the
Cape Cod Baseball League
The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...
.
Coaching career
In 1935, Downes became Boston College's head coach after
Dinny McNamara resigned due to illness after four games. At the age of 25, he became one of the youngest head coaches in the history of college football. After going 3–2 in the remaining five games, he was replaced the next season by
Gil Dobie
Robert Gilmour "Gloomy Gil" Dobie (January 21, 1878 – December 23, 1948) was an American football player and coach. Over a period of 33 years, he served as the head football coach at North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State ...
and demoted to assistant coach.
In 1937, Downes became head football coach at
Quincy High School in
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...
. From 1938 until his death in 1970, he was head coach at
Brookline High School.
Legacy
The football field at Brookline High was named in honor of him, however in 2006 the name was changed to the Kraft Family Athletic Facility at Harry Downes Field after
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
owner and BHS alumnus
Robert Kraft donated $400,000 toward the renovation of the field and encouraged the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
to donate an additional $200,000 to the project.
Head coaching record
College
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Harry
1910 births
1970 deaths
American football centers
Boston College Eagles football coaches
Boston College Eagles football players
Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era)
High school football coaches in Massachusetts
Hyannis Harbor Hawks players
Sportspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Norfolk County, Massachusetts