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Football again:

What is the origin of the huddle?






I am off to Chicago today to do a little shopping with my wife. Enjoy your day!

KnoxVegas wrote:Football again:

What is the origin of the huddle?






I am off to Chicago today to do a little shopping with my wife. Enjoy your day!

Will you have your PDA or laptop with you while traveling to Chicago? Or will you check in on the answers later tonight?

Brent you should have answered this one right off the bat!!!

The huddle was first used by a quarterback at Gallaudet to prevent the opposing players from reading his sign language. Since most all of the Gallaudet students are deaf, they could only communicate using sign language and the huddle prevented the "stealing of signs".

mbuff wrote:Brent you should have answered this one right off the bat!!!

I decided that I would give others the opportunity to answer KnoxVegas' question and at the same time I was testing to see if anyone did pay attention to this "obscure" fact when I brought it up last September, 2005 right here in the Water Cooler. I don't want to monopolize this question.

Yet, Ethan brought up this question, so I will just let him say if it is correct or if it would receive a gigantic X like we usually see that on the Family Feud.

mbuff said:

"The huddle was first used by a quarterback at Gallaudet."

I always thought that was correct.

Last Saturday, however, Bill Curry (ESPN's most annoying announcer and self appointed football expert) stated during the Division III football national championship that Amos Alonzo Stagg invented the huddle, the forward pass, the shift, the man in motion, etc. The list of Stagg's innovations were impressive.

culax wrote:mbuff said:

"The huddle was first used by a quarterback at Gallaudet."

I always thought that was correct.

Last Saturday, however, Bill Curry (ESPN's most annoying announcer and self appointed football expert) stated during the Division III football national championship that Amos Alonzo Stagg invented the huddle, the forward pass, the shift, the man in motion, etc. The list of Stagg's innovations were impressive.

Hmm... actually, mbuff would be technically the winner.

It would be more like the ol' which came first argument- the chicken or the egg in this situation. I did check out the University of Chicago's website, and they did attribute the football huddle to Stagg. As a Gallaudet alum, I would and still vigorously defend our honor. On the other hand, it really all depends on what year the quarterback from Gallaudet started that or when Amos Alonzo Stagg started the huddle. Perhaps from a different angle which may be splitting hairs, it may also depend on how the football huddle is defined from Gallaudet's point of view in 1894 or from Stagg's point of view. Finally, I would daresay that it is more of pride/bragging rights- deaf people versus hearing people. In fact, it is NO BIG DEAL as we all are the same as we eat, breath, drink eat, drive, etc. except that some of us are lacking something.

I will get off my soapbox.

Wait a second, Amos Alonzo Stagg invented the forward pass? If that is true, it defuncts perhaps the greatest Krusty the Klown line of all time-

"Okay Bart, it's your basic statue of liberty play... except you thrown the ball to me! Knute Rockne called it the forward pass..."

CORRECT. This one was for Brent, whom I knew from a previous post is an alumnus of Gallaudet. From the pages of deaftoday.com:

"In fact, the football huddle was invented at Gallaudet University in 1894 when team captain Paul Hubbard worried that other teams were stealing his hand signals."

Let's call it parallel evolution and give it to the deaf since that is who I was thinking of. Stagg gets credit for enough things. He was the Bill Walsh of his era.

Here is something that Stagg did not invent: the bass drum. That is what this question is all about. Please read the following:

"Despite not ever playing a single down of football in his entire life, Dr. R. Orin Cornett revolutionized the game for deaf players. Cornett - a physicist by trade - was a spectator at a Gallaudet contest in 1965. He noticed the disadvantage the Gallaudet offensive line possessed, because unlike their opponents, the players had to watch for the snap.

First introduced in 1970, the Bison drum is still used to this day.
The innovative thinker started experimenting with different ideas to overcome the deaf players' disadvantage. First, a radio transmitter that was planted on the center's hip, in turn feeding vibrations into small receivers built into each player's helmet. Second, a strobe light system mounted on the goal posts. Third, a strobe signal from the sideline causing reflectors on the helmets to flash. While none of these unique ideas seemed to work efficiently, Cornett continued to brainstorm until he awoke one morning nearly five years later with the concept that would change Gallaudet football forever."

For more on the Bison Drum, checkout:
http://athletics.gallaudet.edu/fball_drum.php

For more on Gallaudet University in Washington, DC:
http://www.gallaudet.edu/

Gallaudet means a lot to mean. Oh and I almost forgot the best part: The president of Gallaudet University, Dr. I. King Jordan, is the first deaf president of Gallaudet and will be retiring in September 2007. Dr. Jordan is a graduate of.... The University of Tennessee.