The 1939 Gonzaga Bulldogs football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the univ ...

during the

1939 college football season The 1939 college football season concluded with the Aggies of The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M) being named as the national champions by the voters in the Associated Press writers' poll. Led by consensus All-American ...

. In their first year under head coach

Puggy Hunton John W. "Puggy" Hunton (August 28, 1902 – October 3, 1967) was the final head coach of the Gonzaga University Bulldogs football team, leading their final three seasons, from 1939 to 1941. Prior to his tenure with the Bulldogs he was a high scho ...

, the Bulldogs compiled a 6–2 record, shut out five of their last six opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 100 to 45. Among its victories, Gonzaga defeated two

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

teams, including an undefeated

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

team that was ranked No. 11 prior to the game. The team was led by backfield star Tony Canadeo who later played 11 seasons for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

and was inducted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

. Gonzaga was ranked at No. 80 (out of 609 teams) in the final

Litkenhous Ratings The Litkenhous Difference by Score Ratings system was a mathematical system used to rank football and basketball teams. The Litrating system was developed by Vanderbilt University professor Edward E. Litkenhous (1907 – December 22, 1984) and his b ...

for 1939.

Schedule

References

{{Gonzaga Bulldogs football navbox Gonzaga Gonzaga Bulldogs football seasons

Gonzaga Bulldogs football The Gonzaga Bulldogs football team represented Gonzaga University of Spokane, Washington, in the sport of college football. Gonzaga last fielded a varsity football team in 1941. From 1892 to 1941, Gonzaga went with one bowl appearance, in ...