Uncovering History: How the Gallaudet University Football Team Invented the Football Huddle in the 1920s

Uncovering history: the Gallaudet University football team invented the huddle in the 1920s as a way to keep their signed plays secret. Learn more about the four players from the 1920 Gallaudet University football squad that made history.

According to legend, the Gallaudet football team invented the huddle as a means to prevent opposing teams from stealing their plays by reading their sign language. Below are four players from the 1920 Gallaudet University football squad … looking super psyched.

Washington, D.C., 1920. "Gripp, Mathew, [Nathan] Lahn, Troske -- Gallaudet U." Gridiron stars of the first college for the deaf, credited with inventing the football huddle in the 1920s as a way to keep its signed plays secret.
Washington, D.C., 1920. “Gripp, Mathew, [Nathan] Lahn, Troske — Gallaudet U.” Gridiron stars of the first college for the deaf, credited with inventing the football huddle in the 1920s as a way to keep its signed plays secret.

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