Peter Gogolak was born in Budapest, Hungary where he developed a passion for soccer at an early age, a member of the Ferencvaros, an elite junior soccer club. In 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution, at the age of 14, Peter, his parents and younger brother, Charlie, walked 16 miles to the Austrian border, evading the gunfire of the Russian border guards and escaping to freedom. Once in America, they settled in Ogdensburg, a small community in upstate New York, where no one played soccer. As a result, Peter played football and was the first to develop the soccer-style kick that would revolutionize the kicking game in college and professional football in America.
Peter and his parents, Dr. and Mrs. John Gogolak, were determined that he should have an Ivy League education. To that end, in 1960, Peter entered Cornell, becoming the first of three brothers to receive an Ivy League education. While at Cornell, he earned a national reputation by kicking the first-ever 50-yard field goal in a college game. By the time he graduated, Peter had set a college record with 44 consecutive extra point conversions.
In 1964, Peter was the last draft choice of the Buffalo Bills. In his exhibition debut game, against the New York Jets, he captured the imagination of the football world, with a 57 yard field goal, which at that time was the longest field goal in history. That season, he kicked 28 field goals to set an AFL record and became the second highest scorer in the league.
In 1966, he became a pioneer of another sort, by jumping to the NFL's New York Giants, thus starting a free-agent war that led to the merger of the NFL and AFL. Today, Peter remains the all-time leading scorer for the New York Giants.
After playing 12 years of professional football, Peter made his mark in the financial printing industry in New York. He continues today, as a sales director with RR Donnelly Financial.
As co-founder of the Packer - Gogolak Soccer Camps, Peter spent many summers teaching soccer to the youth of Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Peter and his wife, Katherine, a builder of high-end homes, live in Darien, Connecticut. Together they were among the founders of "The Cottage in Darien," a group home for the mentally handicapped, where their son Tom is a resident. The Cottage was recently dedicated to the memory of their son, David, a 1994 Cornell graduate.
Appointed by President George W. Bush, in 2006, Peter was one of a four-person delegation, headed by Governor George Pataki, to represent the United States in Budapest for the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. That journey to Hungary was most humbling for a man who left his homeland with only his family and the clothes on his back.
Peter Gogolak truly has lived the American Dream.
