Dick Goddard

Richard Duane Goddard (February 24, 1931 – August 4, 2020) was an American television meteorologist, author, cartoonist, and animal activist.

Goddard was born on February 24, 1931, in Akron, Ohio.

His father, Vatchel Goddard, was a mechanic for Railway Express Agency.

His mother, Doris Goddard (née Dickerhoof), was a homemaker.

Both of his parents had a fourth grade education.

He lived in Akron from birth to 1941.

The family moved to a small farm in Greensburg, Ohio (now called Green) in 1941.

The farm was five-acres.

At age four, his father took him to Michigan to fish in the summer.

Goddard went to his first Cleveland Browns game in Akron in August 1948.

Just before joining the United States Air Force, Goddard tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Firestone Park.

The Dodgers called him the next day to come back, but never did since none of his friends got invited back.

After graduating from Green High School, he began his weather career while taking classes on meteorology during a stint with the United States Air Force from 1949 through 1955.

He had basic training at Sampson Air Force Base.

Goddard was given the standard aptitude test.

The lieutenant who administered the test said he qualified as sharpshooter since there were no cartoonists.

Goddard thought about it and declined.

The lieutenant said he was suited for meteorology.

Goddard was immediately sent to the Korean peninsula before the outbreak of the Korean War.

Before he could go to the Korean peninsula, Goddard was sent to Greenland.

After Greenland, he was assigned to the 6th Mobile Weather Squadron at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma.

During this time, Goddard's most notable assignment was forecasting for atmospheric nuclear weapons tests by the United States Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) in the Pacific.

While stationed with USAEC at Enewetak Atoll, the first hydrogen bomb was tested there in the Pacific Islands and, Goddard met Edward Teller.

He then attended Kent State University, where he majored in drama and broadcasting.

While there he had notable success as the lead character, Curly, in the school's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

While at Kent State, Goddard joined the National Weather Service at the Akron-Canton Airport.

He stayed there for five years.

After graduating from Kent State in 1960, Goddard joined the weather team at Westinghouse-owned KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV) in Cleveland and was hired for thirteen weeks.

He had the distinction of being the first meteorologist on Cleveland television.

As fortune would have it, Hurricane Donna became the first storm he covered.

In December 1960, he was on Linn Sheldon's Barnaby show.

A year later; while at KYW-TV, Goddard worked alongside sports anchor Jim Graner.

Goddard was one of several employees of KYW-TV who agreed to move to WRCV-TV in Philadelphia in June 1965, after Westinghouse was allowed by the FCC to reverse a station trade with NBC in 1956 based on coercion in order for Westinghouse to retain their NBC affiliations; the KYW calls also moved back to Philadelphia.

However, Goddard did not take a liking to Philadelphia, and returned to Cleveland several months later.

From 1966 until his retirement in 2016, he was the evening meteorologist at WJW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio.

Goddard holds the Guinness World Record for longest career as a weather forecaster after passing Canadian meteorologist Peter Coade.

In 1966, Goddard became the chief meteorologist at WJW-TV, where he would work for the remainder of his career.

He would continue to fish until 1973, before giving it up.

Goddard played football (tailback and single-wing), baseball (third base), and basketball in high school.

His senior year, he played basketball and they became Class B champions.