Charles Goodell

Charles Ellsworth Goodell Jr. (March 16, 1926 – January 21, 1987) was an American politician who represented New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1968 and the United States Senate from 1968 to 1971. He entered both positions following the deaths of his predecessors. Goodell won four full terms in Congress and resigned on September 9, 1968, to accept Governor Nelson Rockefeller's appointment to fill the vacancy left by the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In 1970, he ran as the candidate of both the Republican and Liberal parties, but lost to James L. Buckley. Goodell was also the father of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.