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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  Book relives glory years of St. Ambrose football

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published July 3, 2009

Larry A. Peplin | The Michigan Catholic “Goodfellows” author Rick Gosselin (left) and former St. Ambrose football coach Tom Boisture on the set of “Dialogue.”

DETROIT — Despite its small size, St. Ambrose High School became a recognized powerhouse in prep football in the 1950s, and continued that tradition through much of the 1960s.

St. Ambrose alumnus Rick Gosselin, now a sportswriter covering pro football for the Dallas Morning News, has told the story of the glory years of St. Ambrose football in "Goodfellows – The Champions of St. Ambrose."

He especially focuses on the 1959 season, which ended with tiny St. Ambrose winning not only the Soup Bowl – the Catholic League championship – but also defeating Cooley High School, the Detroit Public Schools' champions, in the annual Goodfellows Game at Briggs Stadium.

Gosselin didn't play football in his high school years, but he has kept in touch over the years with former coaches Tom Boisture and George Perles, as well as with many others who were involved with the school's football program.

He and Boisture and Perles were in town last month for a reunion that drew about 300 former players and cheerleaders.

"What made 1959 so special was that it was a real David vs. Goliath contest," recalls Boisture, St. Ambrose's football coach from 1956-61.

"Cooley was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state, and here was St. Ambrose, with only 397 students — and 257 of them were girls — going up against Cooley, which had 3,400 students and was the largest high school in the state," he continues.

"We were tremendous underdogs; we weren't given a chance, and we ended up beating them late in the game," adds Boisture, who went on to a distinguished college and professional coaching career that included the New England Patriots and New York Giants.

With its sponsoring parish's boundaries including portions of both Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park, St. Ambrose drew players from its own elementary school, but also from many eastside parishes that had elementary schools but no high school.

That's what really made it possible for St. Ambrose to field such formidable teams, Gosselin says. "They didn't have the quantity, but they had the quality," he says, explaining how St. Ambrose attracted graduates from 20-some eastside city and suburban elementaries, notably St. Juliana in Detroit, St. Joan of Arc in St. Clair Shores and St. Veronica in East Detroit (now Eastpointe).

But if ever there was an unlikely candidate for gridiron stardom it would have had to have been St. Ambrose. The school not only lacked its own playing field, but even its own practice field.

"Home" games were played at the old Mack Park in Detroit and later at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck. "And they practiced at Defer Elementary, a few blocks away in Grosse Pointe Park, on a field where there were no goal posts and no markings," Gosselin recalls.

"But what they had was great coaching and great players. They found a way to get the job done," he adds.

Boisture says there was a great "close-knit" feeling among all those involved in the school, and he also credits the influence of the Adrian Dominican Sisters who taught there. "They were a big part of our program," he says.

While in town, Gosselin and Boisture sat down with Ned McGrath, archdiocesan director of communications, on CTND's "Dialogue" program and Vic Michaels, director of the Catholic High School League — also a St. Ambrose alum — to talk about the remarkable run of winning seasons.

That run lasted from 1956-67, before going into decline. The last season for St. Ambrose football was 1971, and the school closed at the end of the 1971-72 school year. Tail

CTND will air the edition of "Dialogue" about "Goodfellows":

• Friday, July 3, at 9:30 p.m.
• Saturday, July 4, at 7:30 p.m.
• Monday, July 6, at 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 7, at 11 a.m.
• Wednesday, July 8, at 1 p.m.
• Friday, July 10, at 9:30 p.m.
• Saturday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m.
• Monday, July 13, at 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 14, at 11 a.m.
• Wednesday, July 15, at 1 p.m.
• Saturday, July 17, at 7:30 p.m.