: ''For information on all Saint Mary's College of California sports, see
Saint Mary's Gaels''
The Saint Mary's Gaels football program was the intercollegiate
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 wit ...
team for
Saint Mary's College of California
Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate pr ...
in
Moraga, California.
The school's first football team was fielded in 1892,
and was dropped in 1899 going 7-6 in that span. The football program resumed again in 1915. In 1920 came one of the worst defeats in college football history, a 18 touchdown 127-0 defeat from neighboring
University of California. The Gael's gained only 16 yards of offense the entire game. This lose drove St. Mary's to turn the program around by hiring
Knute Rockne's protege,
Slip Madigan who helped St. Mary's win 4 consecutive conference championships from 1925-1928.
By 1927, Saint Mary's developed into one of the strongest football programs on the
West Coast. They defeated
USC,
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
, California, and
Stanford. The Stanford team they defeated in 1927 went on to play in the
Rose Bowl, as did the USC team they defeated in 1931. Slip also lead the Gaels to the programs only 2 undefeated seasons in 1926, at 9-0-1, and 1929, at 8-0-1. Although the school's enrollment seldom exceeded 500, the 'Galloping Gaels' became a nationally known football power.
The famously red-clad jersey-ed 'Galloping Gaels', were known for their flashy style that reflected the personality of their flamboyant coach. In the most notable win in program history, Saint Mary's traveled to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
in 1930 to play
Fordham in front of 65,000 at New York City's famed
Polo Grounds. Madigan traveled to New York for the game with 150 fans on a train that was labeled "The World's Longest Bar." To stir up publicity for the game, he then threw a party the night before the game and invited sportswriters and celebrities.
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
and New York mayor
Jimmy Walker attended the party. Fordham was a heavy favorite, as the Rams had won 16 straight games going back to 1928. They featured the first version of a defense known as the "
Seven Blocks of Granite," a formidable unit that later would include
Vince Lombardi. Saint Mary's recovered from a 12–0 halftime deficit to win, 20–12.
The Gaels had a couple of shots at a national championship in the 1930's. A one-point loss to Cal in St. Mary’s opener in 1930 probably cost the school the No. 1 spot. In 1934, the Gaels beat Fordham and California, but were upset by
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
, 9-7, and lost to UCLA, 6-0, and another national title had slipped away.
The Gaels won the
Cotton Bowl in January
1939 and lost in the
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed on ...
in January
1946. That
1945 team won its first seven games and was ranked seventh in the
AP poll
The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broa ...
entering the bowl game. They also lost in the 1946
Oil the following year. Many home games of this era were played to sold out crowds at
Kezar Stadium in
The football program was dropped after the
1950 revived as a club sport, and returned to varsity status in
1970 (College Division, later
Division III),
[ and moved up to Division II The team competed in ]NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...
Division I-AA as an independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
from 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
through 2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...
.
In order to keep its overall athletics program at Division I, football was required to cease or move up to Division I-AA by 1993. (Rival Santa Clara discontinued football after 1992.) After eleven seasons as an I-AA independent, Saint Mary's ended its football program on March 3, 2004, citing budgetary reasons.
Conference affiliation
• 1892-1899: Independent
• 1915-1924: Independent
• 1925-1928: Far Western Conference
• 1929-1950: Independent
• 1970-1979: College Division- Division III Independent
• 1980-1992: Division II Independent
• 1993-2003: Division I-AA Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
Conference championships
St. Mary's won four consecutive conference championships in a row in their only time associated in an athletic conference. The Gaels have been an independent all other years of existence.
Bowl games
Head coaches
Slip Madigan and James Phelan are the only coaches that have lead the 'Galloping Gaels' to bowl games.
Rivalries
Oregon
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...
and Saint Mary's College competed in an annual Thanksgiving Day classic between 1929– 1935, played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The victors were awarded The Governors' Perpetual Trophy jointly by the governors of the states of California and Oregon. The Gaels
The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic lan ...
hold a 7–3 lead in the series and final possession of the trophy. The rivalry is unlikely to be contested again, as Saint Mary's discontinued football in 1951 due to the national emergency resulting from the Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top: ...
, and reinstated its program in 1970, only to discontinue it again after the 2003 football season.
College Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Notable players
* Larry Bettencourt
* Tony Compagno
* Ryan Coogler
* Eddie Erdelatz
* John Henry Johnson
* Wagner Jorgensen
Wagner O. Jorgensen (July 31, 1913 – July 24, 1977) was an American football center who played two seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the third round of the 1936 ...
* Dante Magnani
* Dick Mesak
* Chase Peterson
* Bud Toscani
Francis Anthony "Bud" Toscani (April 19, 1909 – June 21, 1966) was an American football player. A native of California, Toscani attended Santa Rosa High School in Santa Rosa, California, and Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, ...
* Herman Wedemeyer
* Willie Wilkin
* Scott Wood
Scott Douglas Wood II (born June 21, 1990) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for North Carolina State University.
College career
Wood came to NC State from Marion High School in Marion, Indiana. ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Gaels Football
American football teams established in 1892
American football teams disestablished in 2004
1892 establishments in California
2004 disestablishments in California