The Huddle

The Huddle

 

You see this in almost all sports. Swimming, basketball, baseball, and the widest known sport this formation is used in…. football. Many people tend to know what the huddle is, but a lot of people do not know how it started. Such a simple formation, with such a sophisticated background. Let’s tackle this subject “Ready??!!! Break!!!”

          The huddle is mainly used by teams to do one of three things. Celebrate, motivate or strategize. It is also used to keep the opposing team from knowing or figuring out what the following play may be. Also very helpful when you are playing or competing somewhere where there is a lot of noise. Such as a ginormous stadium or an enclosed building as a swim pool or basketball or hockey arena. Normally the leader of the huddle will be the team captain attempting to pump his guys up.

          Believe it or not the huddle was also created by a deaf man. He and his team used the huddle as a way to hide his sign language of the plays from the other team. He played at Gallaudet University in 1940. He had graduated from Kansas school for the Deaf. Gallaudet was a school for the deaf. In fact Hubbard was part of their first ever football team. So all their players were deaf. One of the first all disabled football teams. To this day Gallaudet’s football field is still named in honor of Hubbard.

          It did not take long for Hubbard’s idea if the huddle to spread. Shortly after its creation the huddle spread from the little leagues to the big leagues. From mini football to NFL. This idea of hiding the play form the other team really began to catch on. There are many people who want to credit other people for creation of the huddle around the same time as Hubbard. But the truth is Hubbard was the first ever recorded to use the huddle there for that gives him the credit for creation of this very popular idea sweeping across the nation.

          All sports use the huddle at one point in time. From land, water, or even air. Every type of team has used a huddle at one point in time and there is only one man you can thank for creating this idea of togetherness and strucuture when it may seem hard to create a stable enviorment if even for 5 seconds. That man is Paul D. Hubbard.