Football
San Jose State first fielded a football team in 1893 and has won 16 conference championships dating back to 1932. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Spartan football program was considered a powerhouse, winning eight conference championships over an 18-year span. The 1932 team finished 7-0-2 and the 1939 team finished 13-0, marking the only undefeated seasons in school history.
San Jose State shares football rivalries with Stanford and Fresno State. The annual game played between Stanford and San Jose State is titled the Bill Walsh Legacy Game, after distinguished SJSU alumnus, the late Mr. Bill Walsh. The Fresno State and San Jose State game is simply known as the Valley Rivalry game.
Additional Football Facts
- The San Jose State Spartans football team served unexpectedly with the Honolulu Police Department during World War II. The team had just arrived in Honolulu to play the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the Shrine Bowl, but was stranded on the islands after the Pearl Harbor attack.
- SJSU earned more Big West Conference football championship titles than any other team in the history of the Big West conference.
- The SJSU football team has made nine bowl appearances. Its most recent bowl appearance occurred in 2012 when the Spartans defeated the Bowling Green Falcons in the Military Bowl.
- SJSU, the University of Dayton, Eastern Illinois University and the University of Arkansas are the only schools known to have produced two alumni who would go on to serve as head coaches of Super Bowl-winning teams.
- SJSU has produced over 70 All-America team members, including five first-team selections.
- SJSU has sent 110 football players to the NFL, including six NFL Pro Bowl selections, six first-round draft picks, two MVP award winners, and one NFL Rookie of the Year.
- As of the 2010-2011 season, seven former SJSU Spartans are actively playing in the NFL. Among them is SJSU alumnus James Jones, a starting wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers.
- On November 10, 1955, the SJSU Spartans played the Washington State Cougars in Pullman, Washington before the lowest paid attendance in history: 1.
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Famous quotes containing the word football:
“... in the minds of search committees there is the lingering question: Can she manage the football coach?”
—Donna E. Shalala (b. 1941)
“Idon’t enjoy getting knocked about on a football field for other people’s amusement. I enjoy it if I’m being paid a lot for it.”
—David Storey (b. 1933)
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)