What Is American Sign Language?The year was 1894. It was football season, and schools across the United States were cheering for their teams. At Gallaudet College (say: GAL-uh-det) in Washington, DC, quarterback Paul Hubbard led the team.
Hubbard wasn’t known for being physical. One coach called him “frail,” adding, “I never saw Hubbard come into contact with an opponent or dive at a fumble.” But Hubbard had a feel for the game.
Back then, quarterbacks called plays, just like they do today. They told the team the plan, and it had to be kept secret. Players would stand far away from their opponents, so only their teammates could hear the quarterback speaking.
Players on the Gallaudet team, though, couldn’t hear. It was the first college in the world for people who were deaf or hard of hearing. Everyone at Gallaudet used American Sign Language (ASL).
Usually, Hubbard called plays from anywhere he wanted on the field. Other teams wouldn’t understand ASL. This year was different. Gallaudet was playing two deaf schools. Those players could read Hubbard’s signs from one end of the stadium to the other.
Then Hubbard had an idea.
Gallaudet had an “A team,” Hubbard and the best players. There was a “B team,” too. At practice, the teams would play each other. Of course everyone signed. So, at every scrimmage, Hubbard called his players into a circle. They kept their backs to the B team. Nobody could see their hands; nobody would know their plan.
Why not do the same when they played deaf teams? Hubbard must have wondered. Why risk the other team knowing—or stealing!—their plays?
At those games, Hubbard had his players form a ring. Maybe he used the sign for tackle, one hand held in a fist with the pointer and middle fingers pointing down, and the other hand reaching out to grab them. Or maybe Hubbard wanted a rush play, where he’d run with the ball. He could have signed that by quickly sliding one fist across the flat open palm of his other hand.
Whatever the calls, Hubbard’s plays worked. Gallaudet beat the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf 24-0 and the New York School for the Deaf 20-6. In fact, Gallaudet lost only one game that entire season!
As the for the team circle? It became known as “the huddle.”
After college, Hubbard started the football program at the Kansas School for the Deaf. The idea of the huddle spread to deaf schools throughout the Midwest, then even farther. Today, every team, from youth leagues to the NFL, uses the huddle. American Sign Language changed the game.
Over time, ASL has worked its way into everyday life, too. People pose for photos using the “I love you” sign. Teachers might ask students to use the ASL form of clapping: raised hands and wiggling fingers.
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