The Gallaudet Bison football team represents

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first school ...

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA)

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

competition. It has been discontinued many times, and most recently restarted in 2007. After an undefeated season in 2005, the first time such a season was achieved in the program's 122-year history, head coach Ed Hottle began his campaign to return Gallaudet to the NCAA ranks. With support from the Gallaudet administration, the Bison played their last season of club football in 2006 and played a full NCAA slate of eight games in 2007. The home stadium, Hotchkiss Field, was known as Garlic Field prior to 1924.

History

The football team was organized in

1883 Events January * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * January 16 – ...

by coach John B. Hotchkiss. In the 1890s, the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

huddle In sport, a huddle is the action of a team gathering together, usually in a tight circle, to strategize, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulatio ...

originated at Gallaudet when the team noticed that their opponents were trying to see and read their signs in order to try to guess their plays.

Quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Paul D. Hubbard Paul D. Hubbard (1871–1946) was a deaf American football player who is credited with inventing the modern huddle. He played football at Gallaudet University from 1892 to 1895. Early life Hubbard graduated from the Colorado School for the Dea ...

noticed sign language signals could be read by opposing players, a particular concern when Gallaudet played other schools for the deaf. To remedy this, he had his players form a circle so that his sign language signals could be sent and received without anyone on the sidelines or on the opposing team seeing. Gallaudet football

After the 2009 football season, Coach Hottle left to become the first head coach of the first football team at

Stevenson University Stevenson University is a private university in Baltimore County, Maryland with two campuses, one in Stevenson, Maryland, Stevenson and one in Owings Mills, Maryland, Owings Mills. The university enrolls approximately 3,615 undergraduate and g ...

. He announced his decision in a heart-felt meeting with the football team. Offensive Coordinator Chuck Goldstein was tapped to be the interim head coach of the football team. On December 17, 2009, the interim tag was removed and he is now the permanent head coach of the team. In the fall of 2013, Gallaudet's football program began a remarkable run for the Division III playoffs and garnering a considerable amount of publicity, winning the regular season with a 9–1 record, before falling to Hobart College in the first round of the playoffs and ending the season with a 9–2 (.818) overall record.

Championships

Conference championships

Gallaudet claims three conference titles, the most recent of which came in 2023. † Co-champions

Postseason games

NCAA Division III playoff games

Gallaudet has appeared in the Division III playoffs two times, with an overall record of 0–2.

Hall of Fame

The following football players have been inducted into the Gallaudet Athletics Hall of Fame. *

George Andree George W. Andree (February 7, 1879—October 5, 1934) was an American college football coach for Georgia Tech in 1902. Andree was born in Manistee, Michigan, but grew up in Scottville, Michigan, where his parents owned the town's first hotel. H ...

*Hume Le Prince Battiste *Lou Byouk *Richard Caswell *Albert Couthen *Scott Cuscaden *Dewey Deer *Race Drake *Louis Dyer *Bernie Fairwood *Edward Foltz *Charles Hammack *

*Frederick Hughes *John Jacobs *Richard Jacobs *John Kaleta *Ernest Langenberg *James Macfadden *Charles Marshall *Bilbo Monaghan *Frederick Moore *Bill Ramborger *John Ringle *Lester Rosson *James Segala *Vincent Silvestri *Shannon Simon *Frank Turk *Robert Westermann *Franklin Willis *Darnell Woods *John Wurdemann

Rivalries

Gallaudet University's football team has a longstanding

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

with

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

, another school in the Washington D.C. area. On September 7, 2012, Gallaudet University defeated Catholic University of America for the first time in the 106-year history of the rivalry between the two D.C. schools.

References

External links

* {{Eastern Collegiate Football Conference navbox American football teams established in 1883 1883 establishments in Washington, D.C.