Football’s Unanswered Question Answered: Why the Huddle
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During a tight game in the fall of 1894, Paul Hubbard—quarterback for the Gallaudet University Bison, and known as “the Eel” for his canny maneuvers—made a simple move that changed sports forever. Concerned that his hand signs were tipping off his plans to the opposing defense, Hubbard summoned his offense and directed them to form a circle around him, creating what many consider the first football huddle.
For the Bison, who have been fielding football teams since the 1880s, sight matters more than sound. Nestled in Northeast Washington, D.C., Gallaudet is the most famous and prestigious deaf university in the world. It’s been granting degrees since 1864. The Gallaudet student newspaper, the Buff and Blue, honored Hubbard in 1941 as the “daddy of huddle,” as did daily newspapers in Kansas, where he coached at the Kansas School for the Deaf, and Washington when Hubbard died in 1946.
As with any world-shifting innovation, competing claims emerged over the decades: Herb McCracken, the University of Pittsburgh player and college coach, claimed that he’d invented the huddle in 1924, and some quarters credit University of Illinois football coach Robert Zuppke—also known for inventing the onside kick, the flea flicker and the screen pass.
Source: Scott Nover, Smithsonian Magazine, September/October 2025
Contributed by Jane Hart