Career
He played at the halfback and quarterback positions for the Pittsburgh Panthers football teams from 1914 to 1918. He was selected as a second-team All-American in 1918. He also played two years of professional football, including the 1919 season with the Massillon Tigers of the Ohio League.
Gougler was raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
He played quarterback for the Harrisburg Central High School football team, where he developed a reputation as “a most illusive sidestepper.”
After one year at Conway Hall, Gougler enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh where he played four years of football under coach ”People’s” Warner. He played halfback and quarterback at Pitt.
During Gougler’s four seasons at Pitt, the Panthers were undefeated and ran up a 33-game winning streak before losing to Syracuse by a score of 24-3 in 1919. As a senior in 1918, Gougler was selected as a second-team All-American by Robert (Tiny) Maxwell, sports editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Pitt"s undefeated 1917 team was known as "The Fighting Dentists" because on occasion every position was filled by dental students.
The dental students on the 1917 team included Gougler, "Tank" McLaren Katy Easterday, "Jake" Stahl. and Jock Sutherland. Gougler signed with the Massillon Tigers to play professional football in 1919. Gougler proved to be a key player on the 1919 Massillon team
Gougler"s third field goal came with only seconds left in the game.
On Armistice Day in 1919, Massillon lost to Cleveland Tigers, 3-0, as Gougler missed five field goal attempts, including three from inside the 20-yard line. In 1920, Gougler completed his education in dentistry.
While completing his studies, he began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. In July 1921, he was hired as an assistant football coach at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
At Lafayette, Gougler worked as an assistant to his former Pitt teammate Jock Sutherland.
In 1924, Sutherland became the head football coach at Pitt, and Gougler followed him from Lafayette. Gougler again became an assistant football coach under Sutherland. Gougler died at Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh at age 67 in 1962.