THE GEORGETOWN FOOTBALL HISTORY PROJECT
1874-1880
Highlights:
1874: Students form the Georgetown College Football Association to develop an intercollegiate program. Unfortunately, with no college opponents playing the game within 200 miles of Washington DC, the sport is confined to the intramural ranks.
1881-1890
Highlights:
1881: Georgetown schedules its first extramural game versus Alexandria (VA) HS. The high school team fails to show, and the game is deemed a forfeit win.
1887: Georgetown plays its first official game against outside competition, defeating Emerson Institute 46-6. Home games are played on Varsity Field, the site of Copley Lawn, but are soon moved off-campus to meet local demand.
1889: Georgetown plays its first intercollegiate game against Virginia. Georgetown records list the score as Georgetown 34-0, while Virginia records claim their side prevailed, 32-0.
1891-1900
Highlights:
1893: The first recorded accounts of the "Hoya Saxa" yell appear in newspaper accounts of games against North Carolina and Swarthmore.
1894: Georgetown captain George "Shorty" Bahen (class of 1895) is killed following an injury suffered in a game against the Columbia Athletic Club. The sport is suspended at Georgetown for three years.
1900: The first great two-sport star at the University, running back Arthur Devlin (C'1901) is snubbed for Walter Camp's All-America team because Camp's selections are restricted only to men from Harvard, Yale, or Princeton.
1901-1910
Highlights:
1912: Alphonsus Donlon S.J., a member of the original 1887 varsity, is named University President, serving through 1918.
1913: The popular but acrimonious Georgetown-Virginia series is cancelled. The two schools never meet again in football.
1914: Albert Exendine is named head coach and leads Georgetown to its first golden age of the sport.
1916: A 9-1 Georgetown team leads the nation in offense. RB Johnny Gilroy leads the nation in scoring and is second in rushing, earning All-America honors.
1921-1930
Highlights:
1921: Games are moved to 32,000 seat Griffith Stadium, home of the Washington Senators. Plans are announced to raise money for a 25,000 seat "Memorial Stadium" on campus on the site of the present-day business school.
1924: Lou Little becomes Georgetown's head coach and first athletic director. Of Little's 41 wins at the Hilltop from 1924 to 1929, 31 are shutouts.
1925: The 9-1 Hoyas shut out seven opponents and surrender only one touchdown all season.
1929: The Georgetown-NYU game at Yankee Stadium draws 50,000, a school record.
1931-1940
Highlights:
1930: Coach Lou Little is hired away by Columbia. Plans for a 25,000 seat on-campus stadium are shelved.
1931: Assistant football coach Frank Leahy leaves Georgetown en route to a legendary career with Boston College and Notre Dame.
1932: Head coach Tommy Mills abruptly quits halfway during the 1932 season. Former Georgetown HB Jack Hagerty retires from the NFL to become the new head coach.
1938: The Hoyas complete their only unbeaten, untied season, with five shutouts.
1941-1950
Highlights:
1940: Georgetown takes a 23 game unbeaten streak and a #11 national ranking into Boston to meet Frank Leahy's undefeated #5 ranked Boston College team. BC prevails in a thriller, 19-18, before 34,000 at Fenway Park.
1941: Georgetown falls 14-7 to Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl.
1943: Varsity play is suspended for three years due to World War II.
1949: Bob Margarita named head coach.
1950: Georgetown falls to Texas Western in the Sun Bowl, 33-20.
1951-1960
Highlights:
1951: Citing a shortfall from ticket sales, Georgetown drops football. Class intramurals are the only gridiron play at the University for the next thirteen years.
1961-1970
Highlights:
1963: A student drive to reinstate football at a non-scholarship level is approved with a game on November 23, 1963 against Frostburg State. The game is cancelled in the wake of the death of President Kennedy and the two teams never meet.
1964: Georgetown returns to football with a 28-6 win over NYU before an overflow crowd of over 8,000 at Kehoe Field, the school's track facility. The game begins the "club football" era at Georgetown.
1966: A student boycott of classes is averted as the University opens the way for an expansion of the schedule. Georgetown wins the game, 50-13.
1968: Maurice (Mush) Dubofsky, a 1932 All-American and former Georgetown assistant coach, is named head coach. He will coach two seasons before dying of a heart attack in 1970.
1971-1980
Highlights:
1970: Georgetown moves from club football to NCAA Division II. Scott Glacken is hired as head coach.
1973: Georgetown moves to NCAA Division III.
1975: LB/DE Robert Morris named consensus All-America.
1978: Georgetown finishes one point short of an undefeated season following a 33-32 loss to St. John's.
1981-1990
Highlights:
1981: P/K Jim Corcoran named 1st team All-American in consecutive years.
1984: The Hoyas suffer its worst season to date, losing all seven games. A winless record is averted in the record books after a 56-6 loss to Catholic University is ruled by Georgetown a forfeit after Catholic was found to be using an ineligible player. Catholic's record book maintains the win.
1987: Georgetown wins 12 of its next 17 games over two seasons.
1991-2000
Highlights:
1993: Georgetown upgrades program to Division I-AA, joins MAAC Football League
1993: Bob Benson named head coach; Hoyas play first international game in Bermuda.
1995: The Hoyas finish their third season in Division I-AA with the #1 ranked total defense in the subdivision.
1997: Georgetown wins the MAAC Football League title with an undefeated 7-0 record and an 8-2 season overall.
2001-2010
Highlights:
2001: Georgetown joins Patriot League.
2005: Georgetown begins construction of Multi-Sport Field, a proposed double-decked home field of 4,500 seats in the center of campus. Fundraising is halted soon thereafter.
2006: Kevin Kelly named head coach.
2009:A modern attendance record is set when a sold out crowd of 19,782 watches Old Dominion defeat Georgetown, 31-10, in Norfolk, VA. .
2011-2020
Highlights:
2011: Georgetown completes 8-3 season, best since 1999.
2012: First prime time cable TV appearance on ESPNU.
2014: Rob Sgarlata named head coach.
2017: Georgetown hosts Harvard in the last football game held at RFK Stadium.
2020: Georgetown cancels the 2020 season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The remaining Patriot League schools compete in a reduced schedule the following spring.