Cary Godette left some indelible impressions on those whose paths he crossed three decades ago in what was then simply known as Ficklen Stadium. Since those days of violent collisions, he's been teaching others the finer arts of dishing out bruises.

One of East Carolina's finest running backs during Godette's era, Eddie Hicks, admitted that he simply didn’t run at Cary Godette during practice. One of the Pirates' finest ever defensive ends, Zack Valentine, said his own greatness was due in large part to opponents running at him and away from Godette. One of ECU’s greatest coaches, Pat Dye, said Godette was the finest defensive end he ever coached.

Cary Godette dominated the defensive line of scrimmage at East Carolina almost from the moment he arrived on campus in 1972. His 5-11 frame belied a tenaciousness that would make him a legend at East Carolina. He would go on to finish his Pirates career as an All-America selection and follow it with a stellar coaching career.

Today, he is taking a one-year hiatus from his coaching career to rehab from knee surgery. The year off, literally his first out of football since middle school, has afforded the coach an opportunity to refocus his career and actually reconnect with his alma mater in a way that he had not been able to do since his days as a player. This past season, the ECU Hall-of-Fame player returned to the very place he spent four years dominating offenses and reconnected with his old friends.

“I had a blast at the Hall-of-Fame weekend,” Godette said of his long-awaited trip back to Greenville. “Getting to see former teammates and players and coaches was great.”

As he heals up and contemplates where his next coaching job will be, the veteran coach of all levels of play — high school, college, and the NFL — reflected on his experience as a Pirate.

Godette always had two dreams growing up. First, he wanted to go to college and second, he wanted to see the world. It would be football that blazed the path to both objectives for the young football star from Havelock.

“I went to Havelock High School,” Godette tells the story. “My father — who is since deceased — was in Civil Service and my mother worked in the school system, in the cafeteria. Growing up, my uncle was a farmer, so I worked a lot on the farm to help him out. I just kind of grew up in a community with some lifelong buddies who are still very close and we get together as much as possible.”

On the farm, Godette learned the value of hard work.

“It was a small farm,” Godette said. “(His uncle) raised tobacco, corn, soybeans… those types of things. I have been out there on a tractor, plowing with a mule… up early and working hard. When football practice came around, I was kind of glad to go (to drills) after working summer jobs and on the farm — I was glad to get away from it.”

For Godette, football was the only game to play and he saw it all on his prep team.

“Really the only thing I played in high school was football and that is when I started, as a freshman,” he said. “I started out playing tight end and defensive end and eventually they decided I needed to be an offensive tackle and defensive end. Back then, the school I went to, you played both sides (of the ball). I was about 5-11 and when I came out I was about 200 pounds. I started about 150 and gradually put on about 20 pounds a year.”

Cary Godette in his '72 Havelock High class photo (submitted)

When Godette played at Havelock, the program was not quite the winner it came to be, but the head coach, Frank Caimello, was beginning to develop the program that would become a proven winner over time. Godette was part of that foundation.

“We pretty much established the traditions there,” Godette said. “There were about 18 of us that played on the varsity as sophomores and got the crap beat out of us. Then, as juniors, we played and got better and would hang with a team for a half and then wind up losing in the second half. I only played on one winning team in football in high school.

“That team was kind of a special team because of the fact it goes with that old cliché about taking your lumps. When we were seniors, we were 13-0 and won, at that time, it was the Eastern State Championship because (NC) didn’t have a combined deal. So we won a state championship and gave up only 20 points all year that season.”

Godette sensed, at that age, that he was part of something special and there was a possibility that he could go to the next level.

While Godette sensed he had the goods to play on the next level, he found that it was not all that easy to catch the eyes of the major college scouts when they were looking for the 6-3, 6-4 defensive tackle. And even though he was making plays all over the field for Havelock, Godette didn’t know if anyone was taking note.

One person was. Former Pirates standout Wayne Lineberry — then a graduate coach for the Pirates — was well aware of the talent packed into the 5-11 Godette, and he told then-coach Sonny Randle all about the Havelock stalwart. Randle sent the invite.

“Larry and I went to East Carolina on the same weekend,” Godette said of his only recruiting trip. “It was the first time (traveling anywhere) for me, except for taking (high school) football trips, I wasn’t very experienced about seeing things around. Football allowed me what little I did see around while I was in high school. So, basically we went to East Carolina and I was in awe at that time because I had nothing to compare it to. Of course, the facilities were not even close to what it is now, but I didn’t know any better then. Les Strayhorn was my host and he took us out showed us a good time. Hey, I was all set to come right then, you know. It was the only scholarship offer I had and I didn’t know anything better.”

As the first in his family to go to college, Godette was not only in awe of the football program, he was also impressed with the collegiate environment as a whole.

“I was the first guy going to college from my immediate family,” he said. “We were all kind of in awe of everything that came around. George Rhodes came down to sign us to scholarships. I was all set and very happy to have my education paid for and get a chance to do something I enjoyed — football — and at that time, when I first got there, I went into the ROTC program because if I had not gotten the scholarship, I was going to go in the Air Force. It was just a great experience to be able to be involved in all of it.”

College football also provided a nice additional benefit.

“I had always wanted to travel,” Godette said. “If the football hadn’t of afforded the means, I was going to go into the military and see sights that way. And what I was able to do was go to East Carolina, get an education and football (playing and coaching) allowed me to go to different places. Now, they were short stops on those trips to play something, but during the span of my career as a coach, it has allowed me some time to see places.”

The Pirates were coming off a losing season — Randle’s first at the helm — and Godette had gotten the chance to watch the team in action a couple of times during his senior year at Havelock. He saw potential.

“Wilbur Sasser, who later became the head coach at Havelock, was in his first coaching job at Havelock,” Godette said of his senior prep season. “He had been at East Carolina and was pumping them… that type of thing. So I was excited when I came in my freshman year. It was the first year that freshmen were eligible to get on the field as freshmen. So for me, I didn’t know what to expect at all. The pace, the level of intensity… it was all higher than high school. It was tough to come in as a freshman not knowing what to expect. You were thrown to the wolves a bit since you could play on the varsity. You didn’t know if you were going to be able to play right out of high school. I was just trying to keep up because everything was thrown at you at one time. And the classes, they were tough, too. Really, everything was at a much higher level than you were accustomed to so you were really struggling trying to stay afloat on everything.”

Where he may have struggled to stay afloat in adjusting to college life, he seemed to adjust quite fine to the football.

“When I got in (the program), I had success playing,” he said. “I knew I could play at that level because I got a chance to play as a freshman. I got the Outstanding Freshman Award. John Madlock — my position coach — was one of those guys where he was on your butt all the time but he brought you to a level and gave you an opportunity to play as a freshman. He was the kind of guy that set a tone on where I needed to go with my game, but also was a fair individual so that if you busted your butt, you had an opportunity to play. It gave me a chance to make some dumb mistakes like any freshman would, but you had an opportunity to play and it was enjoyable with a close knit group of guys and you played on a championship football team that year.”

Ever the deflector of praise, Godette offers a reason for his instant impact as a freshman in 1972.

“I think what worked for me was the fact that I was fortunate to come in when there were not a lot of seniors on the team,” he explained. “Maybe eight (seniors were on the team) when I came in, so it worked in my favor. These guys set the tone about what it meant to be on a championship team. Even though there were only eight seniors, they were great leaders. As a freshman, all I had to do was come in and do what I was told and follow suit under the leadership of guys like Les Strayhorn and Jim Post.

“I remember Jim jumping my butt in the huddle over a roughing the punter deal as a freshman where we should have been off the field. It was one of the teams where we had enough ability — (Carlester) Crump(ler) was running the ball, (Carl) Summerell at quarterback — so we had enough to win ballgames. By the next year, as a sophomore, Crump and Summerell were seniors. I had learned an awful lot as a freshman and I felt like I could play and be a much better player than I was the year before. I was hoping to start as a sophomore, but it wasn’t until the second game that I started. I remember the first game we went to Raleigh and North Carolina State beat the crap out of us and it was kind of a shock, but they were a loaded football team, too. They had four outstanding running backs that all went — I think — in the first round to the NFL. We kind of regrouped as a football team after that and had a pretty good year.”

After a solid sophomore campaign, Godette was eagerly anticipating his junior season.

“I felt like at the end of my sophomore year, that I had a chance to be a pretty good football player,” he said. “Just like anything else, at that age, you have your dreams. You want to be an all-conference player, an All-American. You dream about those guys you read about and I felt the opportunity was there if I worked hard enough to take advantage of what was there. I was very fortunate to have real good teammates. I played with some very good people who brought the best out of me through competition.”

He attributed his sophomore success to his quickness.

“I was still learning even though I had played, I still was not strong enough, big enough or physical enough,” he said. “I was relying on running around, quickness, hustle, those types of things my first two years. Again, we were a championship football team and being with good football players, I was able to catch the ride and make a few plays. I think probably my sophomore year, as far as quarterback sacks and pressures, was probably my most productive year. After that, I started getting double teams. As a sophomore and freshman, I got to make a lot of plays, but it was because I was virtually a nobody so I got opportunities, whereas when you got older and better, you didn’t have those same opportunities to make plays.”

For many players, a coaching change halfway through their careers could be alarming, but for Godette, when Randle packed his bag for Virginia and an unproven Pat Dye rolled in from Alabama, the rising junior barely flinched.

“For me, it was kind of like when I was in high school,” he explained, “I had several coaching changes so it wasn’t like it was overwhelming because I was still young and trying to get adjusted. But it was like night and day when the coaching changes eventually took place. The two men were like two ends of a spectrum. When Randle was there, we ran around a bunch and the practice was shorter. We weren’t quite as physical as when Coach Dye came in. When Coach Dye came in, the Wishbone came in and I had to change positions going from a defensive end to a nose guard.

“You talk about being physical. It was brutal going down and putting your hand on the ground. You got hit from all over. Nose guard was totally new to me because I had never put my hand down before on defense. For me, I learned to get physical in a hurry. That first spring there were guys who got hurt who never got hurt before. It was a wake up call for me because of the nature of the offense you were practicing against every day. You had to become physical. It was a harder, more physical game from a standpoint, simply because the nature of the offense went from an I-Formation running the ball. with Summerell passing the ball downfield. to a pounding running of the football with the Wishbone.”

He admits that he was the logical choice for nose guard in Dye’s odd front defense. By moving him to nose guard, Dye could get another top player on the field at linebacker. Godette was excited and ready for his junior season, but the week before the season opened, he blew out his knee and lost the whole year.

It wasn’t his first injury as he had hurt his shoulder as a prep player, but it was the first time he was not going to play football.

“We were in game week when I tore my knee up,” he recalled. “I had hurt my shoulder in high school, but I didn’t really know what the problem was because nobody ever told you you were hurt back then. When I came to East Carolina as a freshman, my shoulder kept slipping. I played in a shoulder harness my first two years of college football. So I had my shoulder operated on at the end of spring practice or actually a day or two after spring of my freshman year. Well, my sophomore year about the fourth game of the season, they said I was out for the year because I had taken a blow on the shoulder and bent the staple. The team physician said I was through for the year, so Randle packed me in the car and drove me up to Virginia and took me to a highly regarded orthopedic doctor and he said I could play. So my first two years, I played with my arm strapped down to my side… I played with one arm basically.

“Because I had done nothing but play in pain for my first two years, it was just something I became accustomed to. Then finally going into my junior year, I’m healthy and feeling good about everything and (suddenly) I blew my knee out. I sat out that year and then came back Dye’s second year there. It was different coming back off that injury because I had never had a leg problem before.”

If there was a setback due to the injury, it was awfully hard to detect it as Godette turned in a typical stellar season, culminating in being named an honorable mention All-America.

“I bounced back,” he laughed. “In fact, I moved back to defensive end from nose guard. Still… being away from football, it was tough trying to get everything back in sync that season. Plus, people were aware of you. You know, it wasn’t like I was a freshman or a sophomore and nobody knew me, they were coming at me pretty good and double teaming me.”

While Godette will forever hold Sonny Randle in high regard — he was the man who gave him the chance — you sense a special admiration in Godette for Dye.

“The thing that impressed me about Coach Dye was that he was a hard-nosed football coach who was very fair,” he said. “He brought a toughness. Watching him operate, he was a people person and he could interact with all types of players from all kinds of backgrounds. It didn’t matter if you were black or white, rich or poor, it didn’t matter. And, he was the same way dealing with alumni and those types. Didn’t matter to him if he was talking to a farmer chewing tobacco or in a three-piece suit talking to a banker. I mean, he was just an individual who would adapt to the situation.

“On the recruiting end of it, the athleticism went way up. The speed factor went way up, big-time. We got bigger and faster and for the first time, he gradually built a weight program. By the time I was a senior they were emphasizing who was lifting 300 pounds. And when I was on the coaching end of it, I got a chance to see him take things to a new level.

Dye, who in an interview in the 2004 Bonesville Magazine, called Cary Godette the finest defensive end he has ever coached, was clear on his feelings about his former player at East Carolina.

“That makes me feel really good because here is a guy I have great deal of respect for, and for him to say that with the players he had had down at Auburn — and he had some great ones — plus the ones he had a Alabama, it makes me feel very good (to hear his compliment). And here’s a guy who was just a heck of a football coach and person and I have really enjoyed my association with him. I got to see it from two standpoints, first as a player and then going on the staff with him for four years as a coach.”

Despite a 9-2 campaign his senior season, Godette was disappointed on multiple fronts.

“Of course, I was hoping to play professionally,” he said. “But also, I was hoping to get to go to a bowl game because we hadn’t done that. We wanted to be nationally ranked because we felt like we had a pretty good football team. We got rolling that year. We go to Chapel Hill, were ranked 20th in the country and we take a hit there and then later we go down and lose to Furman. Two disappointing losses, you're 9-2, but your goals and everything have been shot so it was kind of a letdown that year. You lost games you knew were the difference between going to the bowl game and being nationally ranked.”

The postseason brought more honors for Godette, but the disappointment of the season could not be diminished.

“It was good to be recognized as a player,” he said. “But when I look back over it, as I look at the friendships, that is what I consider the most valuable (reward). It’s like running into the guys on Lettermen’s Weekend at East Carolina. It was the first time I’ve been able to go to the Hall of Fame Weekend (including his own induction), and you see those guys and it’s like you just pick up where you left off with your old friends and old teammates… like you didn’t miss a beat. That is what I look back on. So the individual honors were great when you were a young guy, but as you get older you appreciate knowing that you were a good football player who made a contribution but that you played with some great teammates… that is what you look back on the most.”

His 2004 visit to his old stomping grounds was long overdue, he said.

“Even when they inducted me to the Hall of Fame, I wasn’t able to go,” he recalled. “My wife and I had a blast because it was something I had never been able to do. It was a such a wonderful weekend, seeing even the guys who were coming in when I was leaving and those who were leaving when I came in… it was a great, great time for me.”