William McDonough (July 6, 1935 – January 9, 2003) was an American sportswriter for The Boston Globe who also worked as an on-air football reporter for CBS and NBC.
[5][6][7][8] However, McDonough's main fame was due to the number of "scoops" and exclusive stories that he broke while with the Globe.
[2] He was accused of chauvinism when he questioned the presence of women in the locker room as well as the legitimacy of allegations by then Boston Herald sportswriter Lisa Olson against New England Patriots players in the team locker room in 1990; McDonough claimed he was vindicated two years later when other Globe sportswriters acknowledged the presence of holes in Olson's credibility that were overlooked or ignored at the time, but others claimed that the Globe's report showed that the overall atmosphere of sexual harassment was worse than Olson had alleged.
[3] One of McDonough's biggest scoops came during the week before Super Bowl XXXI when he broke the story that Patriots' head coach Bill Parcells, one of McDonough's best friends, was planning to leave the Patriots after the Super Bowl and become head coach of the New York Jets.
Another son, Terry McDonough, was vice president, Player Personnel for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.
[3] He served as campaign manager for Billy's 1960 run for state representative, and he visited Whitey in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in the 1960s while the Boston Red Sox were in Kansas City.
[1][2] According to an interview with his son Sean, McDonough had been suffering from heart problems and an autopsy determined that he had undiagnosed cardiac amyloidosis.