Charles “Goose” Doughty Born: September 25, 1933 (McCloud, OK)
Graduated: Shawnee Dunbar (OK) High School, 1950; Langston University, 1954
Deceased: October 26, 2013 (Wichita, KS)

To hear the way others talked about Charles “Goose” Doughty is remarkable. They don’t usually mention his athletic achievements until they finish talking about the man that was. Former Wichita Heights and Wichita State basketball standout Aubrey Sherrod noted following his senior season playing for Doughty that the coach was, “a teacher and friend first and a coach second.” In that same article, Sherrod pointed out that Doughty had taught him “more than basketball; I learned how to be a better person.”

His daughter, Cherryll, described her father as “a very soft-spoken person.” Current Wichita Heights basketball coach called Doughty “a legendary figure in the community.” Comments left upon his passing described him as “wise and kind,” called him a “great leader and good friend,” showed that Doughty had served as a “guiding light” in the lives of so many and that he was a “blessing to Heights and the Wichita community.”

Notice that Doughty’s substantial contributions to the athletic history of the state of Kansas and the City of Wichita are buried under the enormous character that he displayed. It all serves as proof of a lived well lived.

Born in Oklahoma in 1933, Doughty was raised during a dark period of our nation’s history as he attended the segregated school of Shawnee Dunbar High School, where he graduated in 1950. College options for African Americans were limited at that time, but as his class valedictorian Doughty, earned a scholarship to Langston University outside of Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Doughty broke into the starting five on the basketball team by the time he was a sophomore, earning three letters in basketball during his time at Langston. As a measure of his athletic talents, Doughty even spent time with the Harlem Globetrotters following his collegiate career. Doughty eventually settled playing AAU basketball with the Arkansas City May Builders and became teammates with Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Lafayette Norwood.
In 1963, Doughty was hired to teach at L’Ouverture Elementary School in Wichita and began a thirty-nine career with the Wichita Public School District. Doughty coached junior high basketball at Brooks Middle School before being named the head coach at Wichita Heights High School in 1978, following in the footsteps of Lafayette Norwood.

At Heights, Doughty built on the foundation that Norwood had started. From 1978 to his retirement in 1995, Doughty led the Falcons to a record of 250-120, including six state tournament appearances. He also coached some of the greatest basketball talents produced by the state of Kansas, including Aubrey Sherrod and Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Antoine Carr.

Doughty wasn’t only focused on basketball success however. His other great coaching love of tennis also blossomed in the city of Wichita because of his loving care. For nearly fifty years, Doughty ran a tennis program at McAdams Park along with coaching high school tennis at both Heights and Wichita Southeast. Doughty’s tennis legacy is reflected by his induction to the United States Tennis Association’s Missouri Valley Hall of Fame in 2010 and Doughty is the namesake of the Charles Doughty Tennis Center at McAdams Park.

Charles “Goose” Doughty didn’t play or coach for the accolades. He did it because it was who he was. He did it to help others. He did it to help his city and his state. A life well lived indeed.