| W. B. Goodwin | |
| Birth Date: | 7 October 1866 |
| Birth Place: | Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Hot Springs, Virginia, U.S. |
| Player Sport1: | Football |
| Player Years2: | 1884 |
| Player Team2: | Yale |
| Player Sport3: | Track and field |
| Player Years4: | 1886–1887 |
| Player Team4: | Yale |
| Coach Sport1: | Football |
| Coach Years1: | 1892–1893 |
| Coach Team1: | Washington |
| Coach Sport2: | Rowing |
| Coach Years2: | 1901–1903 |
| Coach Team2: | California |
| Overall Record: | 2–4–1 (football) |
William Brownell Goodwin (October 7, 1866 – May 17, 1950) was an American college football player and coach, track and field athlete, rowing coach, insurance executive, and archeologist. He played college football at Yale University in 1884 and was a member of Yale's track and field team in 1886 and 1887. Goodwin served as the first head football coach at the University of Washington, coaching from 1892 to 1893 and compiling a record of 2–4–1.[1] Goodwin officiated the first transcontinental football game, played on December 25, 1899, in San Francisco between California and Carlisle.[2] [3] [4]
Goodwin worked as an agent for the Aetna Fire Insurance Company in Columbus, Ohio and San Francisco before retiring around 1930. He thereafter took up an interest in archeology, making field trips in New England. In North Salem, Massachusetts he discovered a number of colonies of beehive huts similar to those built by Culdees of Northern Ireland. His discovery led him to theorize that the Irish had discovered America. Goodwin died on May 17, 1950, in Hot Springs, Virginia.[5]