This Fall 2024 Marks The 119th Season of Georgetown Football
A recap of some of the high points spanning three centuries: Games … Seasons… Coaches… Players.
By Rory Quirk ’65
Georgetown Football Team, Late 1800s
Genesis
Georgetown sought outside competition as early as 1881, without apparent success. There also is a passing reference in the 1883 Georgetown College Journal to a pair of extramural “rugby” games (for which no scores were recorded).
The first “foot-ball” game for which there is a recorded score occurred in 1887, a time when football was a rarity -- Georgetown was one of just 29 colleges with a team. The 1887 Hoyas got off to a good start, winning two of three games against local high schools. In the opener, the Hoyas routed Emerson Institute (which trekked over from Dupont Circle), 45-6. The first GU touchdown was scored by Dick Hennessy. The specifics are lost to history.
The first collegiate opponent was the University of Virginia. The Hoyas and the Cavaliers squared off in 1889, inaugurating what would become a classic rivalry. Game details are scant – and controversial. The Georgetown Archives show the Hoyas winning 34-0. The UVa Archives have it 32-0 – in favor of Virginia. I opted for the GU result.
Over the ensuing 137 years and 118 seasons, Georgetown has played 1,023 football games (some epic), each with its own account (some very detailed, some very sketchy). Some of the more memorable ones are recounted below.
Georgetown Football Team, 1893
Georgetown Football Team, 1900
Georgetown vs. Virgina, 1906
Georgetown Football Team, 1906
Georgetown Football, 1920s
Georgetown Football, 1920s
History
Georgetown’s football past is rich with upsets, stellar teams and occasional 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, brought the Pop Warner system and winning football to the Hilltop as head coach from 1914 to 1922. He reeled off eight consecutive winning seasons, a Georgetown record. The 1916 team (9-1), his best, scored 474 points, also a school record.
>>Johnny Gilroy was arguably the premier running back of his day. In 1916, Gilroy led the nation in rushing, tied for national honors in touchdowns, and finished second nationally in scoring. For good measure, he threw 12 TD passes; his primary target was Tommy Whelan, the nation’s leading pass receiver.
>>Lou Little, the Penn All-American, brought Georgetown to Eastern prominence in the 1920’s. GU’s stunning wins over Fordham (1925) and NYU (1928) in New York were headline news. He moved on to Columbia and won the Rose Bowl, received overdue recognition as one of the finest coaches in the college game, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
>>Jack Hagerty, All-East halfback and captain of Little’s 1925 powerhouse. Hagerty went on to star for the New York Giants, then returned to Georgetown as head coach in 1932, where he engineered a 23-game unbeaten streak, a rise to national prominence, and a New Year’s Day Orange Bowl appearance. Member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
>>Al Blozis, standout tackle on Hagerty’s Orange Bowl team. 1941 All-American. All-Pro tackle with the New York Giants. Blozis was also the national collegiate shot-put champion; in 1941, he broke the world record with a put of 56 feet-4 ½ inches. Captain, U.S. Army; KIA in France (January 1945).
Al Blozis
Al Blozis
Aside from outstanding individuals of that era, Georgetown can point to outstanding teams:
>>Exendine’s 1916 team crushed nine consecutive opponents after an opening-game loss to Navy. Georgetown was an offensive juggernaut and no slouch defensively. The Hoyas outscored opponents 474-33.
>>Little’s 1925 team, arguably Georgetown’s finest, shut out seven opponents, smothered previously unbeaten Fordham before a stunned crowd in New York’s Polo Grounds and finished 9-1. The team was a defensive gem, allowing just 19 points in 10 games: two field goals, a PAT, two intercepted passes returned by GU opponents for TDs -- and zero defensive touchdowns allowed. Hoya Saxa!
>>Hagerty’s powerhouses of 1938, 1939 and 1940. The 1938-39 teams won 15, tied one and held the opposition to 48 points over the two seasons, The 1940 team extended the unbeaten streak to 23 before losing to Boston College in a battle of nationally ranked unbeatens before an SRO crowd at Boston’s Fenway Park. BC edged Georgetown 19-18. The Hoyas finished the regular season ranked 13th nationally, and received a bid to the Orange Bowl, falling to unbeaten Mississippi State, 14-7. Georgetown finished unbeaten twice, and 23-2-1 overall during that three-year period. The noted sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote of Jack Hagerty: There can be no set system of ranking football coaches … However, in my opinion Jack Hagerty of Georgetown belongs high on this list among the very best that football knows.
1941 Orange Bowl, Georgetown vs. Mississippi State
Georgetown Football Team, 1950
Football was suspended at Georgetown during World War II. With its resumption in 1946, Hagerty and his staff tried to pick up the pieces and recapture the successes of the prewar years. It was no-go. There were occasional upsets and a 1950 Sun Bowl appearance. The program was ended abruptly in early 1951 – presumably forever.
But Then …
Thirteen years later, Georgetown students petitioned for the resumption of football on a non-scholarship basis. Although the concept was dismissed by skeptics as far-fetched, and by critics as thoroughly unwise, it succeeded – emphatically: On November 21, 1964 (creatively rebranded by football proponents as Homecoming Weekend 1964), an overflow crowd of more than 8000 saw Georgetown return to college football, defeating NYU on the Hilltop 28-6. The Hoyas were back.
The NYU game drew national coverage and was the catalyst for the “club” football movement of the late 1960’s, which saw some 50 colleges who had previously abandoned football follow Georgetown back to the game.
In 1970, under the guidance of former Duke All-American Scotty Glacken, Georgetown officially rejoined the NCAA intercollegiate football ranks.
Georgetown Football Players, 1971
Glacken’s 1974 team (which celebrates its 50th reunion this Fall) finished 6-2, including a 35-7 Homecoming blowout of Fordham. The Hoyas finished their breakout season ranked 10th in balloting for the Lambert Bowl, awarded annually to the best small-college team in the East.
Georgetown Football Team, 1974
His 1978 team finished 7th in the Lambert Bowl ranking, with a record of 7-1, the lone loss coming by a single point. 1978 marked the best showing by a Georgetown team since 1939. Scotty Glacken (98 wins) is Georgetown’s winningest coach.
Georgetown Football Team, Early 1980s
In 1993, Georgetown opened a new chapter in its football history. The Hoyas elevated to NCAA Division I-AA under Coach Bob Benson. During Benson’s tenure, the Hoyas established themselves at the top of the Metro Atlantic (MAAC) conference, winning or sharing three consecutive championships in 1997, 1998 and 1999, while compiling a 26-7 record. Georgetown’s signature I-AA win during the MAAC years came in 1998, with their first win against a Patriot League team -- Gharun Hester’s 77-yard TD catch and run cemented a 13-12 upset over Holy Cross.
In 2001, Georgetown realized Benson’s goal and joined the Patriot League.
In 2013, the Hoyas enjoyed their finest season in PL play. The Hoyas and Coach Kevin Kelly finished 8-3, second in the conference, and notched first-ever wins over Princeton and Colgate. The Hoya defense was anchored by PL Defensive Player of the Year Andrew Schaetzke, and PL First Team selections Jeremy Moore, Rob McCabe (who was named PL Defensive POY the following season), and Dustin Wharton.
Coda
It has been 137 years since Dick Hennessy scored Georgetown’s first touchdown in 1887. The Hoyas have played a lot of football in the years since. There are many good memories.
These are some of them.
About the Author: Rory Quirk ‘65
In 1962, his sophomore year, Rory Quirk conceived and authored the 110-page feasibility study that led to the resumption of intercollegiate football at Georgetown. As a senior, he chaired the Student Athletic Committee, which handled arrangements for Georgetown’s first intercollegiate football game since 1950 -- Georgetown 28 NYU 6. Paid Attendance: 8,004.