Football Archaeology

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Stadium Size, Football Droppers, and Deemphasizers: Gonzaga
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Stadium Size, Football Droppers, and Deemphasizers: Gonzaga

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Football Archaeology
Sep 24, 2024
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Stadium Size, Football Droppers, and Deemphasizers: Gonzaga
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This series reviews the program history and stadiums of colleges that dropped or deemphasized football. Click here for the series introduction. The schools included in the review are listed below.


Although I spend significant time reading about football events from long ago, I popped my head into reality yesterday to learn that Gonzaga may join the Pac-12 conference. While I had planned on reviewing Denver as the sixth football dropper, I remain sufficiently light on my research feet to swap Gonzaga for Denver, so here is a late-breaking story on the history of the gridiron Bulldogs.

It is clear that Gonzaga's attraction to the Pac-12 results from the strength of its basketball program, not its football program, but, as you will soon see, there is at least one grand connection between their football and basketball histories.

Gonzaga was a mediocre program throughout its football history, playing a schedule dominated by Northwestern teams. Crosstown rival Washington State, plus Idaho, Montana, Portland, and one or two games per year in exotic locations like Arizona, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit, allowed the lads to see new parts of the country.

Gonzaga’s physical commitment to football came in 1922 when they built Gonzaga Stadium, which sat 12,000 and once packed in more than 25,000 with temporary bleachers for a high school tournament.

The goal posts on the goal line tell us this is a pre-1927 image of Gonzaga Stadium. (Gonzaga University Archives)
A c. 1930 image of Gonzaga Stadium with a crowd and lighting. (Gonzaga University Archives)

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