Even the most passionate football fans might be surprised to hear that the infamous football huddle began at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the world’s only university that communicates primarily in American Sign Language (ASL).
According to the university’s website, in 1984, Gallaudet’s quarterback, Paul Hubbard, wanted to be able to communicate with his team without his opponents seeing. He had the offense form a tight circle so he could sign to them privately, creating the huddle technique seen across football fields today.
“I mean, everyone knows the football huddle,” sophomore intelligence analysis major Jenna Sliman said. “I think it’s just amazing how much deaf culture is in our own culture.”
Sliman is a member of JMU’s American Sign Language Club, whose members recently went on a field trip to Gallaudet. There, they learned fun facts, visited the “signing Starbucks” — the first ASL-centric Starbucks — and immersed themselves within the deaf and signing community.
“I loved that trip,” junior biology major Victoria Tartivita said. “I really think that the ASL club provides opportunities such as those so that you can really get a feel for the deaf community and really try to understand what it’s like.”
ASL Club is an organization that accepts anyone from the deaf or hearing communities as members regardless of previous experience. Club president and senior communications major Bailey Kramarik says she wants to use her position to teach, share and learn ASL while also understanding the culture and history behind it. She said she’s using her time in the position to focus on educating herself and her members about the deaf community and its culture.
“It’s important that we kind of amplify their voices and show their videos and use resources from them,” Kramarik said. “In our meetings, we try to do a 50/50 split … Part of it is teaching signs like vocabulary words, and the other part is highlighting deaf voices, teaching deaf culture [and] watching relevant videos and documentaries.”
A typical meeting is an hour long, once a week. The first half hour is teaching signs and the second half hour is applying them using activities and games. Sliman said the past two meetings were centered around deaf culture and educating ASL club members.
ASL is used by 250,000-500,000 of Americans according to “American Sign Language” by Baker-Shenk and Cokely; The Modern Language Association of America reported it to be the third-most studied language in U.S. colleges in 2016. Kramarik suggested …….