Gallaudet University

Did you know:
Paul Hubbard pioneered the football huddle back in the 1890s. The first football huddle began in 1894. Gallaudet quarterback Paul Hubbard is credited with creating the football huddle during that season when Gallaudet went up against two different deaf schools. GU went 5-2-1 in 1894 and defeated the Pennsylvania Deaf School, 24-0, and the New York Deaf School, 20-6. Hubbard was worried that the other teams were stealing Gallaudet's plays because his signing was out in the open. He decided to circle up his teammates and the huddle was born.

After college, Hubbard moved to Kansas and became an instructor at the Kansas School for the Deaf in Olathe, Kan., where in 1899 he again used the huddle. Soon the system spread to football teams throughout the Midwest. University of Illinois Robert Zuppke admits he took the idea from "a deaf team he saw somewhere."

1896* - Did not graduate, year listed was expected graduation year

Died: 1946