The Santa Clara Broncos 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 wi ...

team for Santa Clara University located in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. Santa Clara played its first football game against St. Mary's College in San Francisco in 1896. Santa Clara compiled an all-time record of . At the conclusion of the 1992 season, the Santa Clara football program was discontinued due to new

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 an ...

regulations which mandated all sports be played at the same level at each university. Santa Clara had fielded all Division I teams with the exception of the Division II football team, and elected not to field a team at the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

level.http://www.letthemplay.com/history.htm Santa Clara played in three major

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

s and won all three: 1937 Sugar Bowl,

1938 Sugar Bowl The 1938 Sugar Bowl was the fourth edition of the Sugar Bowl and featured the LSU Tigers and the Santa Clara Broncos in a rematch of the previous year's game. It was played on Saturday, January 1, 1938, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Backgr ...

, and

1950 Orange Bowl 1950 Orange Bowl was the sixteenth edition of the bowl game, played at Burdine Stadium in Miami, Florida, on Monday, January 2, 1950. The game featured the Kentucky Wildcats of the Southeastern Conference and the Santa Clara Broncos, an independen ...

Notable alumni include

Bryan Barker Bryan Christopher Barker (born June 28, 1964) is a former American football punter in the National Football League (NFL). Barker last played for the St. Louis Rams in 2005. Barker has previously played with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Philad ...

Dick Bassi Richard Joseph Bassi (January 1, 1915 – August 12, 1973) was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He al ...

Alyn Beals Alyn Richard Beals (April 27, 1921 – August 11, 1993) was a professional American football end/defensive end in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL). He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49er ...

* Mike Carey *

Ken Casanega Kenneth Thomas Casanega (February 18, 1921 – October 10, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

Len Casanova Leonard Joseph Casanova (June 12, 1905 – September 30, 2002) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Santa Clara University (1946–1949), the University ...

* Steve Cisowski *

Doug Cosbie Douglas Durant Cosbie (born March 27, 1956) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Santa Clara University. Cosbie has been a football coach for seve ...

Pete Davis Pierre Claveloux Davis, also known as Pete Pathfinder (1937 – 2014), was a religious figure in modern Paganism. He founded the Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) in 1985, in Index, Washington, and served as its archpriest. He was also involved w ...

Phil Dougherty Phillip Francis Dougherty (September 20, 1912September 28, 2000) was a professional American football Center in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted in the ninth round of the 1938 NFL Draft. He played one season for the Chicago Car ...

Nello Falaschi Nello Donald Falaschi (March 19, 1913 – July 29, 1986) was an American football player in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971. Early life Falaschi was born in ...

Dan Farrell Daniel Farrell (born 1937) is a former ice hockey player and coach. He played for the Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey team from 1957-1960 and was the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team from 1973 to 1980. Farrell l ...

* Eddie Forrest * Jesse Freitas *

Visco Grgich Visco Grgich (January 19, 1923 – December 26, 2005) was a professional American football lineman who played in the All-America Football Conference and the National Football League. He played seven seasons for the San Francisco 49ers ...

* Hall Haynes * Jerry Hennessy * John Hock * Gary Hoffman *

Martin Jenkins Martin Joseph Jenkins (born November 12, 1953) is an American attorney and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. He was previously a justice of the California Court of Appeal for the First District, located ...

Brent Jones Brent Michael Jones (born February 12, 1963) is an American former professional football player, business executive, businessman, coach, and sports analyst. As a player, he was a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers during his entire 11-year ca ...

* Mike Kellogg * Pat Malley *

Gern Nagler Robert Gern Nagler (February 23, 1932 – April 9, 2020) was an American football end who played eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Early life Nagler was born in Marysville, California and raised in nearby Arboga He attended ...

* Mike Nott *

Dan Pastorini Dante Anthony Pastorini (born May 26, 1949) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Houston Oilers. He played college football at Santa Clara University and wa ...

* John Schiechl * Alvord Wolff * Ellery Williams

Championships

Conference championships

Conference affiliations: *1896–1981,

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 * Independ ...

*1973–81, Division II Independent *1982–91, Western Football Conference *1992, Division II Independent

Playoff appearances

NCAA Division II

The Broncos made one appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs. They had a combined record of 1-1.

Bowl game appearances

References

{{Santa Clara Broncos navbox American football teams established in 1896 American football teams disestablished in 1992 1896 establishments in California 1992 disestablishments in California