Richard Duane Goddard[2] (February 24, 1931 – August 4, 2020) was an American television meteorologist, author, cartoonist, and animal activist.

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

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

[10] 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.

[12] 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.

[1][8] While stationed with USAEC at Enewetak Atoll, the first hydrogen bomb was tested there in the Pacific Islands and, Goddard met Edward Teller.

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

[12] After graduating from Kent State in 1960,[14] Goddard joined the weather team at Westinghouse-owned KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV) in Cleveland and was hired for thirteen weeks.

[15] 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.

Then a CBS affiliate, WJW carried Browns' games at the time as part of their NFL play-by-play contract until the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (due to the Browns' move to the AFC), at which point the games moved to WKYC – this was a key factor in his having joined the station.

[17] From August 1977 to January 1979, Goddard also hosted WJW's version of Bowling for Dollars, a syndicated franchised game show.

He also appeared in numerous skits on WJW's popular Big Chuck and Lil' John Show over the years, and did occasional stage work.

[21] On May 18, 2016, Goddard announced that he would retire from his weather duties in November 2016, while continuing his animal advocacy and remaining host of the Woollybear Festival.

[31] "Dick Goddard's Law", a bill to increase the severity of penalties for abuse, was introduced into the Ohio General Assembly in 2013[32][33] and reintroduced in 2015.