Good, Don L.

Don L. Good was born October 8, 1921 and died at home on February 14, 2012. He was raised on an 80-acre livestock and crop farm in Van Wert county Ohio with 3 brothers and one sister. He was the son of George Lewis and Dora Haines Good.
Don's livestock interests manifested early, through 4-H and FFA projects with Oxford sheep and swine. In 1939, Don entered The Ohio State University, working in the beef and horse barns and the meats laboratory to work his way through school. During his senior year, Don was called to active duty in World War II and he served in Europe and the Pacific, earning the Combat Infantry Badge and two battle stars. After returning to Ohio State, he was on the 1946 Ohio State livestock judging team and was high man in judging at the Kansas City Royal Livestock Show and was second high man at the Chicago International Livestock Exposition, where the team won.
Don received his bachelor's degree in 1947 from The Ohio State University and was named to the Animal Science Hall of Fame at Ohio State in 1950 and in 1970 he received the OSU College of Agriculture Centennial Award. In 1947 Don started his 40-year career at Kansas State University. His first position was to coach the livestock judging team, manage the purebred beef herds, and teach/advise students. As judging team coach, he won 14 major contests in 18 years. At the end of his first semester at KSU, he returned to Ohio to marry Jane Swick and bring her back to live in Manhattan.
In 1950, Don received his master's degree from KSU and his doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1957. He was named department head of Animal Husbandry at KSU in 1966 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1987. Following a devastating tornado in 1966, he and colleagues worked to form the Livestock and Meat Industry Council. This is a group of industry leaders that would aid in seeking private and corporate funding for use in improving or rebuilding facilities used to teach students and perform research.
Good’s influence, however, reached far beyond Kansas. His leadership and commitment to agriculture was instrumental in helping move livestock and meat production into the modern era. He was also credited with pioneering the concept of correlating carcass characteristics to live animal evaluation at livestock shows.
During his tenure at K-State, Good won three major awards from the American society of Animal Science: Distinguished Teacher in 1973, Honorary Fellow in 1978, and Industry Service in 1982. His portrait was hung in the Saddle and Sirloin Gallery in Louisville, Ky., in 1987. In 1997, Good received the Livestock Publications Council Headliner Award.