First season 1892 Stadium Gonzaga Stadium NCAA division Division I | Last season 1941 Location Spokane, Washington Conference Independent | |
The Gonzaga Bulldogs football team represented Gonzaga University in the sport of college football. Gonzaga last fielded a varsity football team 76 years ago in 1941. From 1892–1941 (excluding having no teams from 1894–1895 & 1900–1906), Gonzaga went 129–99–20.
Like many colleges, the football program went on hiatus during World War II (in April 1942), but after the war the administration decided not to resume it. The program had been in financial difficulty prior to the war.
GU's most notable football player was running back Tony Canadeo (1919–2003) from Chicago, who played in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers from 1941 to 1952 and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974. Ray Flaherty joined him as a hall of famer (as a head coach) in 1976. Flaherty was a Gonzaga teammate of Hust Stockton, a noted halfback in the 1920s (and the paternal grandfather of basketball star John Stockton). Their head coach at Gonzaga was Gus Dorais, who threw to college teammate Knute Rockne at Notre Dame in 1913.
The Gonzaga football stadium, built in 1922, was used for city high school football until it was deemed unsafe by the city after the 1947 season. The white-painted wooden venue hosted a professional preseason game in 1946 under the lights, between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers of the new All-America Football Conference. The southern portion of the football field is currently occupied by the Foley Library. High school football moved to the new Memorial Stadium in 1950, later named for Gonzaga alumnus Joe Albi in 1962.