Paul D. Hubbard (1871–1946) was a

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

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 wi ...

player who is credited with inventing the modern

huddle In sport, a huddle is the action of a team gathering together, usually in a tight circle, to strategize, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulation ...

. He played football at Gallaudet University from 1892 to 1895.

Early life

Hubbard graduated from the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in 1889. He attended Gallaudet University and graduated in 1896. As the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

of the football team, he invented the

Career

After his time at Gallaudet, Hubbard moved to

Olathe, Kansas Olathe ( ) is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290. History 19th century Olathe wa ...

and worked as a teacher and coach at the Kansas School for the Deaf. Hubbard initiated the school's football program in 1899. He coached at Kansas School for the Deaf for many years. He eventually relinquished his titled as coach and finished the remainder of his years as a teacher and served as the school's first athletic director. He retired in 1942 after 43 years at the school. In addition to his work as a teacher and coach, Hubbard owned a mine and was the president of a uranium mining company.

Personal life

Hubbard married in 1901 to Caroline Brownson. They had two hearing children, a son and a daughter. Their daughter, Pauline, died at 10 years old, and the son went on to attend the Kansas Military Academy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Paul 1871 births 1946 deaths American deaf people American football quarterbacks Gallaudet Bison football players High school football coaches in Kansas Sportspeople from Olathe, Kansas