Georgetown Heritage
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GEORGETOWN HERITAGE2009 GEORGETOWN FOOTBALL 75 HOYA HERITAGE by Rory F. Quirk C’65, L’80 (partially excerpted from, “HOYA-SAXA: Georgetown Football 1874-1978”, printed 1978, revised by GU’s Sports Information Department in 2003) Georgetown’s football past is rich with upsets, stellar teams and bowl bids. Georgetown can rightfully boast of outstanding individuals whose names dotted the weekend sports pages and who propelled the Hoyas to national prominence: Al Exendine, the Carlisle All-American who brought the Pop Warner system and winning football to the Hilltop as head coach from 1914 to 1922 … Johnny Gilroy, perhaps the premier college running back of his day, who led the nation in rushing in 1916 … Lou Little, the Penn All-American who brought Georgetown to Eastern prominence in the ’20s before moving on to Columbia, where he won long-overdue acclaim as one of the finest coaches in the history of the college game … Jack Hagerty, All-East halfback and captain of Little’s powerhouse, went on to star for the New York Giants before returning to his alma mater as head coach from 1931- 1948 … George Murtagh, another Georgetown and Giant standout, who returned as Hagerty’s assistant … Al Blozis, standout tackle on the 1941 Orange Bowl team and NCAA shot put champion … Augie Lio, who played with Blozis, Aside from outstanding individuals, Georgetown the Polo Grounds in New York and finished 9-1 made All-American, and was named to the col- can point to outstanding teams: the 1916 squad, … the Hagerty powerhouses of 1938, 1939 and lege Football Hall of Fame … Maurice “Mush” which crushed nine consecutive opponents 1940. The 1938-39 teams won 15, tied one and Dubofsky, longtime Hagerty aide, who starred in after an opening-game loss to Navy … the 1925 held the opposition to 48 points over the two the ’30s, then returned as head coach in 1968 team, arguably Georgetown’s finest, which shut seasons. The 1940 team extended the unbeaten and 1969 before his death in 1970. out seven opponents, smothered previously streak to 23 before losing to Boston College in a unbeaten Fordham before a stunned crowd at battle of unbeatens before a standing-room-only HOYA FOOTBALL TIMELINE 1789 1943-45 Georgetown University Football is suspended founded by John at Georgetown due to Carroll World War II. 1889 Georgetown begins 1950 intercollegiate football The Hoyas play Texas with a game against Western in the Sun Virginia. The Hoyas win Bowl. the game, 34–0. 1951-63 GEORGETOWN VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE AT THE 1890 Football discontinued 1941 ORAngE BOWL The Hoyas face on the Hilltop. Fordham for the first NOV. 30, 1916 – GEORGETOWN 47, time. The Rams are 1964 1993 Georgetown’s oldest GEORGE WASHIngTON 7 Club football returns to The Hoyas program rival in the Patriot campus. becomes part of NCAA Division I-AA League. 1941 1969 Football. Georgetown 1903 Georgetown faces Georgetown football joins the MAAC Mississippi State in moves from club Princeton and Football League. the Orange Bowl. The standing to a varsity Georgetown meet for Bulldogs defeat the team. The Hoyas the first time on the Hoyas by a score of become a member gridiron. 14–7. of NCAA Division III Football. 76 2009 GEORGETOWN FOOTBALL crowd at Boston’s Fenway Park. BC edged the the “club football” movement of the late ’60s, Georgetown rejoined the intercollegiate ranks Hoyas 19-18 in a contest Grantland Rice charac- which saw some 50 colleges that had previously as an NCAA Division III member. Since that terized as one of the most exciting ever played. abandoned football follow Georgetown back to time, the Hoyas have finished 10th (1974) and the game on a nonscholarship basis. 7th (1978) in balloting for the Lambert Bowl, Georgetown finished the 1940 season ranked awarded annually to the best small-college team 13th nationally and received a bid to the Orange In 1970, under the guidance of former Duke in the East. The 1978 team finished 7-1, the best Bowl to play unbeaten Mississippi State. The All-American Scotty Glacken, showing by a Georgetown team since 1939. Hoyas outplayed the ninth-ranked Maroons on New Year’s Day, but lost 14-7. The defeat In 1993, Georgetown opened a new chapter in marked the conclusion of Georgetown’s finest its football history, as the Hoyas made the transi- hour as a college football power. The Hoyas tion to the NCAA Division I-AA level as a member finished unbeaten twice and lost just two of 26 of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. GU games during that three-year period in which won two straight MAAC titles in 1997 and 1998 Grantland wrote: and tied for the league crown in 1999. Then in 2001 Georgetown University played its “There can be no set system of ranking foot- inaugural season in the prestigious ball coaches … However, in my opinion, Patriot League, marking the trans- Jack Hagerty of Georgetown belongs formation from playing high up on this list among the very regional powers best that football knows.” to facing foes that are in contention for Then the war came. Georgetown the NCAA Division I-AA continued to field representative Championship year in year teams in the early ’40s before sus- out. pending the program in 1943. With the resumption of football in 1946, Jack Georgetown football, in its Hagerty and his staff tried to pick up the pieces second century of play, has and the promise of the pre-war years. While added immeasurably to the there were occasional upsets and a 1950 Sun rich heritage of a university in Bowl appearance, crowds dwindled, expenses its third century. rose, and Georgetown discontinued football. An institution that had been born in a cornfield in 1887 and had risen to the heights of 1940, died abruptly in 1951. Thirteen years later, Georgetown students petitioned for the resumption of intercollegiate football on a low-budget, nonscholarship level. Their efforts were successful, and sparked HOYA FOOTBALL TIMELINE 1997 2003 Georgetown finishes Georgetown faces the season 7–0 its first Ivy League in the MAAC and opponent since 1937 wins its first MAAC and defeats Cornell Championship. 42–20. 1998 2005 J.J. Mont sets a Multi-Sport Field Georgetown single- opens on Sept. 17 as game record with 401 1997 MAAC CHAMPIONS the Hoyas host Brown. passing yards in a 34-0 win over Iona. 2006 SEPT. 17, 2005 – FATHER ALVARO RIBEIRO 2001 2002 Kevin Kelly is BLESSES THE FIELD PRIOR TO THE FIRST GAME 2000 Patriot League football The Hoyas earn their introduced as the AT MULTI-SPORT FIELD The Hoyas announce on Georgetown’s first Patriot League second head coach they accept an campus begins. victory, 32-31 at at Georgetown since invitation to join the home against Bucknell. moving to Division I-AA 2007 2008 prestigious Patriot in 1993. Senior fullback Kyle Georgetown beats Football League. GU Van Fleet earns Howard, 13-12 in the plays an independent Second Team All- D.C. Cup, the first-ever schedule. Patriot League honors meeting between the and is named the Distrcit’s only college winner of the Patriot football teams. OcT. 26, 2002 – FIRST League Schlar-Athlete PATRIOT LEAGUE WIN of the Year Award. 2009 GEORGETOWN FOOTBALL 77 AN OLD TRADITION RETURNS... GEORGETOWN The 2003 Hoyas restarted an HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES old Hilltop tradition by singing the Georgetown fight song after (year of graduation listed) every victory. It was the idea of Georgetown President John J. George Bahan ....................................................... 1895 DeGioia and then-head coach Steve Barabas ....................................................... 1930 Bob Benson. The squad learns Al Blozis................................................................... 1942 Vincent Bogdanski .................................................1972 the song during preseason by John Burke .............................................................. 1975 having each position group sing H.C. “Curly” Byrd ..................................................1909 off against another group with the Jim Castiglia ........................................................... 1941 loser earning extra conditioning Rudy Comstock ..................................................... 1922 the next day. Georgetown’s first Harry Connaughton .............................................. 1927 rendition of the song came at Jim Corcoran .......................................................... 1982 Lafayette on October 5, 2003. Sam Cordovano .................................................... 1932 The Hoyas have continued the Harry Costello ........................................................ 1913 revived tradition ever since. “Babe” Cunningham............................................. 1927 William J. Cusack .................................................. 1917 Art Devlin................................................................. 1910 GEORGETOWN “Mush” Dubofsky................................................... 1932 Bob Duffey..............................................................1944 FIGHT SONG John Dwyer ............................................................. 1971 Al Exendine ............................................................ coach “It’s been so long since Jack Flavin ............................................................... 1922 Paul Florence ......................................................... 1924 last we met H. Earl Fullilove ...................................................... 1942 Lie down forever, lie down Louis Ghecas ......................................................... 1941 Oh, have you any money to bet Johnny Gilroy .........................................................