The Gonzaga Bulldogs football team represented

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

, in the sport of college football. Gonzaga last fielded a varsity football team in 1941. From 1892 to 1941, Gonzaga went with one

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

appearance, in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

in the

San Diego East-West Christmas Classic The San Diego East-West Christmas Classic was an annual series of two post-season college American football bowl games played at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, California, in 1921 and 1922.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washingt ...

. The Bulldogs lost to the undefeated

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

, who claimed a share of the national title that season. Like many colleges, the Gonzaga football program went on hiatus during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

(in April 1942), but after the war the administration decided not to resume it. The program had been in financial difficulty prior to the war. GU's most notable football player was running back Tony Canadeo (1919–2003) from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, who played in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers from 1941 to

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

and was elected to the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

in 1974.

Ray Flaherty Raymond Paul Flaherty (September 1, 1903 – July 19, 1994) was an American football player and coach in the National Football League, and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was part of three List of NFL champions (1920–69), NFL Champ ...

joined him as a hall of famer (as a head coach) in 1976. Flaherty was a Gonzaga teammate of Houston Stockton, a noted halfback in the 1920s (and the paternal grandfather of basketball star

John Stockton John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player. Regarded as one of the greatest point guards, players and passers of all time, he spent his entire NBA career (1984–2003) with the Utah Jazz, a ...

). Their head coach at Gonzaga was

Gus Dorais Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais (July 2, 1891 – January 3, 1954) was an American football player, coach, and athletic administrator. Dorais played college football at the University of Notre Dame, where he was an All-American in 1913 at quarterback ...

, who threw to college teammate Knute Rockne at Notre Dame in 1913.

Stadium

The Gonzaga

football stadium Football stadium may refer to: * A stadium used in gridiron football, association football or Australian rules football * A soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sp ...

, built in 1922, was used for city

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

until it was deemed unsafe by the city after the 1947 season. The white-painted wooden venue hosted a professional preseason game in 1946 under the lights, between the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

and Brooklyn Dodgers of the new All-America Football Conference. High school football moved to Ferris Field in 1948 and to the new Memorial Stadium in 1950, renamed for Gonzaga alumnus Joe Albi in 1962. The Gonzaga Stadium football field is now occupied by the Foley Center Library (1992) and its Foley Lawn.

Head coaching history

All Americans

References

{{Gonzaga Bulldogs football navbox American football teams established in 1892 American football teams disestablished in 1941 1892 establishments in Washington (state) 1941 disestablishments in Washington (state)