Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais (July 2, 1891 – January 3, 1954) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator.

[4] Dorais' father moved to Montana where he worked in the mines and died of acute alcoholism in a Butte boarding house in November 1911 (one month before his son was elected captain of the Notre Dame football team).

[10] As captain and starting quarterback, Dorais led the 1912 team to a 7–0 record, the first perfect season in Notre Dame history.

"[11] During the summer before his senior season, Dorais and his teammate Knute Rockne worked as lifeguards and busboys at Cedar Point Resort on Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio.

"The press and the football public hailed this new game, and Notre Dame received credit as the originator of a style of play that we simply systematized," Rockne said.

Dorais shone for Notre Dame in multiple roles in 1913, as a dual threat quarterback on offense and as a defender, punter, placekicker, and punt returner.

"[13] His greatest acclaim came for his passing performance (14 of 17 for 243 yards and three touchdowns) in a 35–13 victory over undefeated Army at West Point, New York on November 1.

At the end of the season, Dorais was selected as a first-team All-American by Frank G. Menke of the International News Service,[14] the Milwaukee Free Press,[15] Tom Thorp,[16][17] and the Trenton Evening-Times.

Canton won the rematch on November 28, 1915, billed as the championship of the Ohio League, when an apparent touchdown pass from Dorais to Briggs was disallowed after a lengthy post-game conference among officials.

He served as the school's football, basketball, and track coach, athletic director, teacher, and chairman of commercial law.

[35] Dorais also served as the head coach of Notre Dame's basketball and baseball teams during the 1918–19 and 1919–20 academic year.

[36][37] In May 1920, Dorais was hired as the athletic director at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school located in Spokane, Washington.

[2][38] Dorais earned $4,000 per year at Gonzaga and was kept for a fifth season in 1924 when boosters helped raise his salary to $7,000 to prevent him from leaving for Detroit.

[42] With Sammy Baugh at quarterback and over 84,500 in attendance on a Wednesday night at Soldier Field, the college stars won 6–0 over Curly Lambeau's Green Bay Packers.

[50][51][52] Dorais found the title flattering, but said he felt the honor was misplaced and should instead be applied to Eddie Cochems who used the forward pass extensively as head coach of the Saint Louis Billikens in 1906.

His honors include the following: In April 1918, Dorais married Viola Fettgather at a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa.

He received the second highest vote count among all the candidates,[65] served four terms, and was an advocate for the expansion of the city's recreation and play facilities.

However, his job as head coach of the Detroit Lions resulted in frequent absences from meetings and criticism of his lack of attendance.

[67] In July 1947, Dorais' youngest son, David, drowned while swimming in Tecon Lake while at the family's summer home in Otsego County, Michigan.