South’s Gavin Bisco, Tristian Littlejohn and Zach Barham.

 

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — The huddle is as much a part of a football game as the goal posts, the cheerleaders and the 50-yard line, but where did it come from?

Football lore says the first huddle happened in 1894 when two schools made up of deaf players were playing against each other. Both teams used American Sign Language to communicate. The signal-caller for Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C., a fellow named Paul Hubbard, realized that whenever he signed a play to his teammates, his opponents were getting the same information and knew exactly what was coming. Hubbard had some savvy. So he signed to his teammates to form a circle to conceal his play calls.

As the Gallaudet Bison assembled tightly around Hubbard, they formed what we now know as the football huddle.

Five years later when Hubbard was coaching the Kansas School for the Deaf team, he employed the huddle, and the concept began to catch on and spread throughout the Midwest. It wasn’t long before every college football team in the country was huddling to get the next play.

Gallaudet College is now Gallaudet University. Established in 1864, it has experienced name changes over the years, but it was the first school in the world for the advanced education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It remains the only higher education institution in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students.

Gallaudet Bison football will have a number of new fans in Landis and China Grove in the next few years, as South Rowan cornerback Tristian Littlejohn signed with Gallaudet on Wednesday.

Littlejohn signed alongside teammates Gavin Bisco, a 6-foot-3, long, versatile athlete who will probably become an outside linebacker at North Carolina Wesleyan in Rocky Mount, and Zach Barham, a hard-nosed, fearless safety who is headed to Greensboro College.

Littlejohn, a grandson of  Joe Lewis Littlejohn who was known as South’s biggest supporter before his death in 2022, is not completely deaf, although he satisfies Gallaudet’s hard of hearing requirement. South Rowan head football coach Chris Walsh met Littlejohn for the first time four years ago. He estimates Littlejohn has 85 to 90 percent hearing loss.

“Tristian has communicated with the football staff and teammates mostly through his ability to read lips,” Walsh said. “He has hearing aids that help him, but they fell out of his ears as soon as he started tackling people in a football game. He’s a cornerback, so when he was on the other side of the field from the South sideline and we needed to tell him something, we’d have to get one of his teammates to communicate with him. I can only imagine how challenging it was for him on those loud football Friday nights. In that noisy environment, he couldn’t hear the ref’s whistle to let him know a play was over. There were obstacles like that, that most kids never have to worry about, but he proved to be an outstanding player for us. He had a terrific senior season.”

Littlejohn was South’s Player of the Game more than once. In South’s first playoff game in 15 years at West Henderson, he was credited with six tackles, a heck of a night for a corner.

“Tristian didn’t intercept passes, Walsh said. “His forte was setting the edge and tackling people. He’s not that big of a guy (5-foot-11, 160), but he is tough, he is smart, and he is physical. He learned that low is the way to go. You hit a running back around the ankles, and he’s not going anywhere. We played Hickory Christian early in the season and they’ve got an All-State running back for the private schools. Just a huge, talented kid. Early in the game, Tristian makes a solo stop on him, and we just looked at each other like, ‘Yeah, Tristian is going to be OK out there.'”

Littlejohn is a farm kid, grew up with a strong family, and never used hearing impairment as an excuse not to excel. He also competes for South in basketball and track and field. He missed four basketball games when he was in concussion protocol this season. On the night he returned, he scored 13 points and led the Raiders in scoring against Central Cabarrus.

Littlejohn was showing serious football promise by his sophomore year. South defensive backs coach Austin Chrismon and Walsh knew about Gallaudet, and the Raiders put in a call to the Bison to let them know South had a player they should follow as a potential recruit.

Gallaudet didn’t forget. A Gallaudet assistant called Walsh this year, expressing interest in recruiting Littlejohn.

Gallaudet offers a wide variety of fields of study, with classrooms that will provide an environment specifically geared to students with hearing loss. For the first time, classroom life is going to be a level playing field for Littlejohn.

Gallaudet is on the cutting edge of technology. AT&T and Gallaudet designed a special helmet for Gallaudet quarterbacks. The coach has a tablet computer with the playbook installed.  He keys in the play call, and the quarterback sees it in a display above his right eye. The quarterback then relays the play to the team. This means instant, clear communication and reduces mistakes and penalties. The NCAA has approved the special helmet.

Gallaudet still takes pride in being known as the “Home of the Huddle” and the Bison have a thriving football program. They play at the NCAA Division III level and are preparing to move into the Old Dominion Athletic Conference to compete against Guilford College and lots of Virginia schools that everyone is familiar with — Averett University, Ferrum College, Randolph-Macon College, Hampden-Sydney College and so on.

“This is just a really cool opportunity for Tristian,” Walsh said. “He gets to play more ball and he gets a chance for a fine education. We couldn’t be prouder of him. We know he’s going to be a great representative of South Rowan High School and South Rowan football.”