Whittier’s affable ‘Tiger’ stands as the winningest coach ever in the history of Poet football. Through 20 seasons of challenging football schedules, his teams compiled a 120-67-6 record while winning nine conference championships.
The ‘tiger’ as he is affectionately known by athletes, students and friends, came to Whittier in 1957 as an assistant and three years later, started his successful tenure as the head coach.
Coach Godfrey piloted the Poets to the school’s only perfect regular season in 1961 and into the NAIA regional playoff in Linfield, Oregon.
He played collegiate football at Washington State, captained the 1947 Cougars and played in the Hula All-Star Bowl in Hawaii. Godfrey graduated with a B.A in economics and education and took his masters at Cal State Los Angeles.
A three year army veteran with service in the Pacific; John coached high school football at Punahou (Honolulu) and Bellingham (Washington) before beginning his 27-year stint at Whittier.
In addition to football, Godfrey served as athletic director and coached baseball, track and golf teams.
