Football | 9/21/2020 1:54:00 PM

In the fall of 1892, a history professor and interested students at the Bloomsburg State Normal School organized the school's first team of an increasingly popular sport for academic institutions. Ever since, the sport has held the imagination of the fans of what is now Bloomsburg University. Hail to the Huskies is the complete history of football at Bloomsburg: the players, coaches, teams, and seasons that have made the sport one that thousands have turned out to watch year after year. Learn about or relive the memories of days past in the more than 120-year saga of Bloomsburg football.
 
Written by Bloomsburg University archivist, Robert Dunkelberger, the intention of this book is to ensure the entire past of Bloomsburg football is remembered, and each team and era has its due. The players of today are as dedicated as the ones who came before them, who proudly wore the maroon and gold, and since 1933 have been known as the Huskies. Football at BU continues to represent the school with the pride it has always shown, and at each game, another piece of history is made.
 
Hail to the Huskies is available for purchase online through the University Store with proceeds benefiting athletic scholarships at Bloomsburg University. To order your copy of the book, please click here.
 

Since this year's version of the Huskies have to wait to step back onto the field, every Saturday, through the Bloomsburg University athletic social media channels, we will tease a chapter of the book to get your football fix. Below is a running teaser as we provide you with your football fix.

WEEK 1: CHAPTER 1 (1892-1905)
Football began at Bloomsburg University (then a state normal school) in 1892 and began to excel just two years later. The program enjoyed great success during these early years and played some of the finest teams in the country, including Lafayette, Penn, and the Carlisle Indian School. Although not on the winning side against Carlisle in the first meeting in 1897, Bloomsburg gave a great effort and thrilled their fans.
 
For the October 9 contest all of Bloomsburg prepared to welcome the most renowned football team that has ever set foot on campus, the rugged and athletic Native Americans who played for the Carlisle Indian School. Bloomsburg would be the only Pennsylvania State Normal School to ever compete with the Indian School's varsity football team. The Bloomsburg Daily reported: "The manager of the Normal football team has been unusually fortunate. He has secured the great team of Indians from the Carlisle school. This is very unexpected. Our Normal team is in great good luck to be permitted to play against this wonderful aggregation of football players." The newspaper felt both teams exhibited gentlemanly work during the game and the Indians snappy, aggressive play. The visitors scored 20 points in the first half on four touchdowns and just once in the second half on a blocked kick to win 26-0.

Pictured is the first football team assembled at Bloomsburg from 1892.
 

WEEK 2: CHAPTER 2 (1906-1918)
In the first decades of Bloomsburg University football, up through 1929, there was one game looked forward to more than any other, the one against the Wyoming Seminary prep school of Kingston. Wyoming was our fiercest rivals and although Bloomsburg's wins were few, they were celebrated. The rabid enthusiasm for these games was demonstrated in the following descriptive excerpt from the coverage of the 1910 contest by the Morning Press newspaper, Bloomsburg winning 6-3.
 
"Barring the treacherous field, it was real football weather and it was a real football crowd. Not in years has such a crowd of football mad enthusiasts flanked a gridiron in this section. Leather-lunged Wilner, the Normal cheerleader, led the singing and the cheering. And it never stopped. From the first few minutes of play, Normal's superiority was demonstrated, as they held Wyoming and then tore Wyoming's line to shreds. It was a joyous day for old Normal and the cheers and songs were sent defiantly across the field in one continuous roar, with the answering cheers of the Blue and White thundering back, at first confidently, then hopefully, and at last hopelessly."

Pictured is the 1910 football team, seen on the steps of Carver (then Institute) Hall, which had one of the best records in school history at 7-1.
 

WEEK 3: CHAPTER 3 (1919-1929)
The Normal School suffered through three very poor seasons following the First World War, then in 1922 rebounded to a 5-4 record, thanks primarily to the athletic ability of Michigan native Earl Joseph Brotherston. He could do it all, especially with his leg, and in just two seasons made 11 field goals, a record that would not be matched for 60 years. His 47-yarder versus Shippensburg in 1922, described below, was the school record for 52 years.
 
The following week, Bloomsburg returned home to face Shippensburg, coached by former player Abraham Sharadin. The visiting team was completely outgamed, outplayed, and outfought. Henry Rohde, a halfback from Kingston, scored twice and Brotherston was outstanding. He threw for a touchdown, intercepted a pass, made three of four extra points, and drop kicked two field goals, one from 35 yards out and the other from 47. The latter was intended originally as a punt, but Brotherston decided to attempt a field goal instead. The Morning Press reported the ball went straight through the goal posts and would have been good from ten yards farther out.
 
Pictured is Earl Joseph Brotherston, considered the greatest kicker in the first 90 years of the Bloomsburg football program.
 

WEEK 4: CHAPTER 4 (1930-1945)
While colors for Bloomsburg athletic teams were adopted in 1895, it would not be until 1933 that a mascot was chosen. That fall, the students of the Bloomsburg State Teachers College selected the husky.
 
The day before the home opener with Indiana in 1933, the result of balloting by students for a school mascot was announced and the winner by an overwhelming margin was the husky. Suggested by art professor George Keller because of the animal's grit, determination, and loyalty, Keller also raised them and so was able to loan a dog to serve as an actual mascot for the sports teams. On the night of October 13, the dog was introduced at a rally. It appears he had not been previously named, so faculty members Elna H. Nelson and John Koch came up with Roongo, combining the school colors of maroon and gold. The new mascot quickly became popular at games, although he was frightened by loud noises, including the yelling of the crowd. The cheerleaders became his handlers and to keep Roongo calm, would take turns leading the dog on numerous circuits of the track surrounding the field.

Pictured is the first husky mascot, Roongo, proudly sporting his stylish blanket, although the photograph was altered to make his tail more prominent.
 

WEEK 5: CHAPTER 5 (1946-1955)
The 1948 team won all nine games for the first undefeated season in school history, but tied California for the conference title, both ending up 6-0. The pressure was then on for a final game to determine an outright champion.
 
Since the conference title remained a mythical one voted on by sportswriters, it was proposed the two schools schedule a championship game to determine the title. There was resistance at Bloomsburg to doing this, because a number of players on the California team—including seven starters—were not actually students at the college, but Penn State freshmen. They took classes at California for their first year and could then transfer the following year to State College, since there was not enough room for all the postwar freshmen who wanted to attend Penn State. The California athletic director clearly stated these temporary athletes were physical education majors at the school to help with the success of the athletic program. The Bloomsburg players, on the other hand, were enrolled as true BSTC student-athletes. Three days after their final game, the players voted not to play the Vulcans, feeling nothing would be gained…

Pictured is the head coach of the 1948 team Robert Redman on right, with assistant coach John Hoch.
 

WEEK 6: CHAPTER 6 (1956-1973)

Once conference play became more standardized after the mid-1920s, it was quickly determined our greatest rival was West Chester. One of the most exciting Bloomsburg victories in the series came in 1959, when an underdog team of Huskies stunned the undefeated Golden Rams with a thrilling fourth quarter comeback.

... Later in the fourth quarter, the Huskies had the ball at their 36. Time was running short and [Dick] Rohrer again took to the air. A pass to Stan Elinsky netted 16 yards and a run by [Dave] Gerber 16 more. Moses Scott caught a 10-yard pass, and in just three plays, Bloomsburg had a first down at the Ram 22. It was then back to the run as the Huskies hammered at the West Chester line, with two carries reaching the ten-yard line. A penalty and four-yard carry by Rishkofski brought the ball to the one. There were just over five minutes left to play when Rohrer took the snap and powered across the goal line on a quarterback sneak as the crowd went wild. The try for the extra point was blocked, but Bloomsburg now led the previously invincible Golden Rams, 13-10.

Pictured is Bloomsburg quarterback Dick Rohrer preparing for another pass during his record-setting day against West Chester in that 1959 game.
 

WEEK 7: CHAPTER 7 (1974-1982)

One thing the football program lacked for decades was a stable on-campus athletic field. Three fields were used over the years and eventually each one had a building placed on top of it as the school grew in size. After the last occurrence in 1964, the team had to play at the Town Athletic Park along Eighth Street, until construction began on an upper campus stadium.

... Construction went on throughout 1973, with work on the concrete bleachers finished over the summer and the grass field seeded that fall. Finally, early in 1974, the press box, concession stand, and restrooms that were part of the bleachers, and the track surrounding the field, were completed. Track and field events were held at the stadium that spring and football practice on the fields to the north of Nelson Field House. In the fall, just two months shy of a decade since the last football game had been played on campus, the new stadium was dedicated and hosted its first game.

Pictured are the Huskies celebrating the first touchdown scored in Robert B. Redman Stadium, September 21, 1974, during a 7-0 victory over Lock Haven.