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- Mar 18, 2019
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In our Broncos Legends series, we're revisiting the careers of some of the best players in franchise history with video highlights and rarely seen photos. Here's a refresher on Ring of Famer Austin "Goose" Gonsoulin's time in Denver.
Career overview
When Austin "Goose" Gonsoulin entered pro football, it was originally not to be with the Broncos and it was not to be in 1960, either.
The first time Gonsoulin was drafted was in the 17th round of the 1959 NFL Draft by the Giants. For whatever reason — perhaps because he was not finished playing college football — Gonsoulin did not sign with New York and re-entered the draft pool a year later. At this point, the three-year Baylor letterman had options. He was selected with the exact same pick in the 1960 NFL Draft, this time by the 49ers, and he'd also been drafted by the American Football League's Dallas Texans; he opted to begin his pro career with the AFL.
But before he'd even played a down, Dallas dealt Gonsoulin to Denver as part of a deal for fullback Jack Spikes. As he prepared to settle in with his new team, he did so at just one position. In college, Gonsoulin had played end and running back; now he would focus solely on playing in the defensive backfield as a safety.
It wouldn't take long for him to prove this was the right spot for his skill set. Prior to the team's preseason slate, the Broncos played two intra-squad scrimmages. In the first, the rookie intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown.
Even in losses, Gonsoulin appeared to stand out clearly as a star caliber player. "Austin Gonsoulin looked good in the Bronco secondary, intercepting two passes," The Denver Post wrote after a 48-0 preseason loss. That feeling — excelling amid poor team performance — would unfortunately be something Gonsoulin would have to become accustomed to through his Broncos career.
As an original Bronco — a member of the team's inaugural season in 1960 — Gonsoulin was part of one of the most woeful franchises in the fledgling American Football League, in spite of his play. Even the uniforms — a memorable mustard-and-brown combination with vertically striped socks — carried an bad reputation.
"When we got them, I was looking around for Jim Thorpe," Gonsoulin recalled in a 1994 Rocky Mountain News story. "I said, 'My God, what time warp have I landed in?'"
Still, Gonsoulin did his best to make those jerseys look good. In his first game, he recorded two interceptions (including the first in AFL history), but his second game was even better.
"That was OK, but I got four the next week in Buffalo, which tied the all-time record, and I thought things were real easy," Gonsoulin later said. "It never was quite that easy, of course, but I well remember those six interceptions in my first two games."
Over the course of his rookie season, Gonsoulin racked up an impressive 11 interceptions, which led both the AFL and NFL. That number still stands today as a single-season franchise record for the Broncos; over the past 20 seasons, only Champ Bailey has come close (10 in 2006 and eight in 2005).
That effort earned him the first of many accolades in his pro career, as he was named a first-team All-AFL selection. "Defensive aerial thief," the Post called Gonsoulin in a caption for the story announcing the Broncos' players on the team. A separate press poll conducted by United Press International named Gonsoulin a second-team all-league player. Had the league held an all-star game, it seems likely that he would have earned that distinction too.
Over the following years, Gonsoulin established that his rookie season was no fluke, even if he couldn't maintain those same interception numbers. Between 1960 and 1965, he recorded no fewer than six interceptions in a season and earned four AFL All-Star Game selections and two All-AFL team nods.
After those six exceptional seasons, Gonsoulin returned for a seventh in 1966, but it would be his last with the team. He missed the first three games of the season with a knee injury and uncharacteristically was unable to intercept a pass all year as he moved to the free safety position, but spectators still considered it to be one of his finest seasons as he made his fifth AFL All-Star Game.
"It is my best year for making sure tackles," Gonsoulin told the Post's Dick Connor in December of 1966. "And also for carrying out my assignments."
The statistics didn't matter much to Gonsoulin as much as winning, and even though the Broncos didn't fare well in that department, he was a level-headed member of the team and a vital resource.
"Popular, quiet-spoken, he's respected by teammates and has worked hard to preserve team morale," Connor wrote.
Yet the Broncos waived Gonsoulin the following July, and he then signed with the 49ers for what would be his last season in pro football.
Despite the bitter end to his time in Denver, Gonsoulin remained a beloved former Bronco, and he continued to cherish his years spent with the team. He was one of the Broncos' four original Ring of Fame inductees in 1984, and he has been a constant inclusion on the team's anniversary all-time teams — in 1980 (for a 20th anniversary team), 2009 (for the club's 50th season) and 2019 (for the NFL's 100th season celebration).
"It's quite a thrill to see your name up in the stadium on the 50-yard line like that," Gonsoulin told the Port Arthur News in 1987 in recalling his Ring of Fame induction. "It means a lot when you think there's only four of us out of the last 25 years. I'll always remember the ceremonies. My family got to stand on the field with me, and they gave us all beautiful rings. People who see the ring think it's a Super Bowl ring."
In the decades that followed, Gonsoulin made an effort to return to Denver for alumni weekends and Ring of Fame inductions when he could, but it was his return for the 20th anniversary celebration in 1980 that stunned him perhaps the most.
"I couldn't believe that stadium, the crowd of 75,000 and the enthusiasm of all those orange-clad folks," Gonsoulin later told the Post's Joseph Sanchez. "It revived memories of my days in cramped Bears Stadium, those striped stockings we wore and the agony of some one-sided losses we endured. I was prouder than ever before that I was one of those pioneers who made all of this possible. It was a real thrill."
Gonsoulin died on Sept. 8, 2014 at the age of 76.