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 wi ...

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 classified ...

, 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 John Raymond "Dinny" McNamara (September 16, 1905 – December 20, 1963) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Boston College for the first four games of the 1935 season, compiling a reco ...

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 Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...

. From 1938 until his death in 1970, he was head coach at

Brookline High School Brookline High School is a four-year public high school in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts. It is a part of Public Schools of Brookline. The Headmaster is Anthony Meyer who holds a Master of Education in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard ...

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 Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment ...

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 majo ...

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