Will McDonough

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William "Will" McDonough (b. July 6, 1935, Boston – d. January 9, 2003, Hingham, Massachusetts) gave the American Football League honest exposure in his articles and columns in a nationally prominent newspaper, the Boston Globe. Up until his death from a heart attack at the age of sixty seven, he had attended every AFL-NFL World Championship game and every Super Bowl. His knowledge of the game of professional football, his ability to get "the inside story", and his honesty and integrity lent credence to his articles on the Boston Patriots and the teams they competed against in the American Football League, which formed the genesis of modern professional football.

McDonough attended Boston English High School, where he starred in baseball as a pitcher and in football as a quarterback (a college knee injury ended his sports career). After graduating from Northeastern University he started at the Globe as a copy boy in 1955, becoming a sportswriter in 1960.

McDonough became a hero among Boston sportswriters after a 1979 altercation with Patriots cornerback Raymond Clayborn, in which McDonough leveled Clayborn after Clayborn had poked him in the eye ([1]).

He died of a heart attack at his home in Hingham, aged 67.

His son, Sean McDonough has grown to become a successful sportscaster in his own right.