Saint Mary's Gaels football
- For information on all Saint Mary's College of California sports, see Saint Mary's Gaels
| Saint Mary's Gaels | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First season | 1892 |
| Last season | 2003 |
| Stadium | Saint Mary's Stadium |
| Field surface | Natural grass |
| Location | Moraga, California |
| NCAA division |
I-AA (now FCS) (1993– 2003) |
| Conference | Independent |
| All-time record | 380–295–22 (.561) |
| Bowl record | 1–2 (.333) |
| Colors |
Navy, Red, and Silver[1] |
| Website | SMCGaels.com |
The Saint Mary's Gaels football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Saint Mary's College of California, located in Moraga, California, east of Oakland. The team competed in NCAA Division I-AA as an independent from 1993 through 2003.[2]
The school's first football team was fielded in 1892,[3] and it was nationally prominent in the 1930s and 1940s,[4] winning the Cotton Bowl in 1939 and losing in the Sugar Bowl in 1946. That 1945 team won its first seven games and was ranked seventh in the AP poll entering the bowl game. Many home games of this era were played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.[4]
The football program was dropped after the 1950 season,[5][6] revived as a club sport, and returned to varsity status in 1970 (College Division, later Division III),[2] and moved up to Division II in 1980.[4]
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 a I-AA independent, Saint Mary's ended its football program on March 3, 2004, citing budgetary reasons.[7]
Notable Gaels
Bowl games
| Season | Bowl | City | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Cotton | Dallas | Texas Tech | W 20–13 |
| 1945 | Sugar | New Orleans | Oklahoma A&M | L 13–33 |
| 1946 | Oil | Houston | Georgia Tech | L 19–41 |
References
- ↑ Saint Mary’s College of California Style Guide (PDF). Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- 1 2 Litsky, Frank (September 24, 1995). "Emotion: St. Mary's has it and Columbia does not". New York Times.
- ↑ "Saint Mary's Historical Data". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
- 1 2 3 Springer, Steve (October 12, 1985). "Those Gaels, what tales: for St. Mary's, football glory is just a memory". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
- ↑ "Gaels abandon gridiron sport". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. January 6, 1951. p. 7.
- ↑ "Gaels bow out of grid picture". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. January 7, 1951. p. 9.
- ↑ Burrell, Jackie, and Thompson, Marcus II (March 4, 2004). "Game over; St. Mary's dissolves football program". Contra Costa Times. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved April 18, 2017.