| Teamname: | Santa Clara Broncos football |
| Stadium: | Kezar Stadium (in San Francisco, 1925–1952) Buck Shaw Stadium (1962–1992) |
| Stadcapacity: | 6,800 |
| Stadsurface: | Natural grass |
| Ncaadivision: | II |
| Conference: | Division II independent |
| Firstyear: | 1896 |
| Atwins: | 352 |
| Atlosses: | 244 |
| Atties: | 28 |
| Bowlwins: | 3 |
| Bowllosses: | 0 |
| Conftitles: | 2 (1983, 1985) |
| Allamericans: | 2 (1938, 1939) |
| Rivalries: | St. Mary's Gaels (Little Big Game) California Golden Bears Stanford Cardinal San Francisco Dons |
The Santa Clara Broncos football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Santa Clara University located in Santa Clara, California. Santa Clara played its first football game against St. Mary's College in San Francisco in 1896. Santa Clara compiled an all-time record of .[1]
The team was known as ‘The S.C.U. Elevens’ from 1896 to 1907, The football program went on hiatus from 1908 to 1918. The football program returned as the Santa Clara "Missionites" in 1919, and were newly named the ‘Broncos’ in 1923.
After the 1992 season, the Santa Clara football program was discontinued due to new NCAA regulations which mandated all sports be played at the same level at each university, as well as due to the high cost of funding football.[2] Santa Clara had fielded all Division I teams with the exception of the Division II football team, and elected not to field a team at the Division I-AA level.[3]
Santa Clara played in three major bowl games and won all three: 1937 Sugar Bowl, 1938 Sugar Bowl, and 1950 Orange Bowl.
| Western Football Conference (Co-Championship) | 6–4–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 8–2–1 | 4–0–1 | |||
| Total conference championships | 2 | |||
The Broncos made one appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs. They had a combined record of 1–1.
| 1980 | Quarterfinals Semifinals | Northern Michigan Cal Poly | W, 27–26 L, 14–38 |
| January 1, 1937 | W | 21 | 14 | Buck Shaw | |||||
| January 1, 1938 | W | 6 | 0 | ||||||
| January 2, 1950 | Miami | W | 21 | 13 | |||||
| Total | 3 bowl games | 3–0 | 48 | 27 | |||||
1937 Final Poll No. 6
1938 Final Poll No. 9
'The Little Big Game' was played annually between the 2 rival Catholic institutions located in the San Francisco Bay Area. The name was reference to 'The Big Game' rivalry between larger Bay Area universities, Stanford and Berkeley.
Rivalry with a 3rd San Francisco Bay Area Jesuit Institution.
| College Football Hall of Fame | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Position | Year | Inducted | Ref | |
| 1971 | [4] | ||||
| 1972 | [5] | ||||
| 1976 | [6] | ||||
| 1977 | [7] | ||||
| 2002 | [8] |
Quarterback, Nello "Flash" Falaschi led the Broncos to a 21–14 upset over LSU in the 1937 Sugar Bowl. Little Santa Clara was a decided underdog going against Louisiana State.
Buck Shaw's teams compiled a record of 47–10–4, including a span of 16 consecutive wins. The 1937 Santa Clara team allowed only nine points over a nine-game campaign. Highlighting Shaw's tenure at the Bronco helm were a pair of Sugar Bowl victories over heavily-favored Louisiana State, 21–14, in 1937, and 6–0, in 1938.
Tom Fears was a two-way end who played for Santa Clara in 1941–1942. While with the 7–2 1942 Santa Clara Broncos football team, Fears helped Santa Clara defeat Utah and three Pacific Coast Conference schools in a row in Stanford, Cal and Oregon State. During that 1942 season Fears won All-Pacific Coast honors before joining the Air Force in World War II.
Leonard Casanova was a skilled Punter for Santa Clara in 1923. Standing on his own one-yard line, he punted a ball that went out of bounds on rival St. Mary's one yard line. Total distance, 98 yards. His career as head coach began in 1946 and covered four years at Santa Clara, one at Pittsburgh, 16 at Oregon. His 1949 Santa Clara Broncos football team team beat Bear Bryant's Kentucky in the 1950 Orange Bowl.
Brent Jones helped the Broncos to two Western Football Conference championships and was named to the all-conference team three times.
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Fears was the son of a Mexican mother, Carmen Valdés, and an American father, mining engineer Charles William Fears. Selected as a defensive back by the Los Angeles Rams in the eleventh round (103rd overall) of the 1945 NFL draft, he is distinguished as being the first Mexican-born player to be drafted into the National Football League. Fears quickly made his mark as a wide receiver, while also displaying his versatility by playing on defense. During his first three seasons at the professional level, he led all NFL receivers in catches, and broke the league's single-season record with 77 catches in 1949.
Len Casanova (1990)
Brent Jones (1998)
Terry Malley (1985)
Brent Jones (1985)