By Kaitlyn Yu ’27 / Reporter
There is no doubt that Choate’s football program has stood the test of time as one of the best teams in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), currently holding the NEPSAC Class A Leon Modeste Bowl Champions title. How did the team achieve the success it has today? Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at some highlights of football at Choate through the ages.
The Early Years: 1900-1940
Football was first introduced as a sport at the all-boys Choate School in 1900. The 1901 issue of the School yearbook, The Brief, reported that there was “great difficulty in organizing a team” out of the limited number of students on campus. Additionally, the rules of football during the early 1900s varied from those we know today. Alfred Hague ’04, Captain of the 1904 Football Team, wrote in the 1951 Choate Alumni Bulletin, “The opposing lines were separated by inches instead of feet … kicking was unheard of.”
As the sport itself developed, so did Choate’s football teams. In 1922, the Varsity Football Team won a total of six games against Central High School of Springfield, the Taft School, the Pomfret School, the Loomis Chaffee School, Deerfield Academy, and the Yale University Second Freshman Team, while only suffering one loss to the Kent School. The 1935 season was similarly victorious, resulting in six wins as well.
Further Development: 1941-1970
In 1952, Choate faced the Hotchkiss School for the first time, which resulted in a 12-0 victory for the Bearcats. Although the Wild Boars returned home without any points scored, Hotchkiss Football Head Coach DeLaney Kiphuth marveled at the “fine sportsmanship of the opposition,” marking the first memorable game of many others to come.
The 1961-1962 team was undefeated for the ninth time since football began at the School. Under Head Coach Jack Davison, the team won all seven games and allowed only 13 points to be scored on them all year. The most significant victories included an impressive 32-0 win over Deerfield and an 18-7 triumph against the Lawrenceville School, which ended Lawrenceville’s three-year undefeated streak. Coach Davison credited Choate’s success to the “spirit and enthusiasm” of the team, remarking that “the boys gained pride in their play and developed far beyond any expectations.” With the success of the football team, the program expanded in the 1960s with the establishment of a junior varsity team.
The Saga Continues: 1971-2010
The 1978 game against Deerfield was perhaps one of the most exhilarating games in Choate’s football history, with the team scoring the winning touchdown in the last few seconds, breaking a 3-3 deadlock with the School’s traditional rival.
2007 also marked a special occasion when the Varsity Boys’ Football Team opened the season with a 20-17 victory over Kent in the first outdoor football match held under the lights. In the October 5, 2007 issue of The Choate News, reporter Rick Song ’09 wrote that this change of scenery “brought the Choate community closer” and created a highly memorable game.
Soaring to New Heights: 2010-Present
Current Head Coach LJ Spinnato joined the Choate community in 2009. Since 2014, he has been coaching the Varsity Football team and boasts seven Bowl Championship wins in nine seasons. He remarked that the program’s continuity and consistency have improved over the years, raising expectations and imploring him “to go out there and recruit talent” of equal measure to the academic and artistic rigor of the School. Coach Spinnato reflected on his first team at Choate, which had a “magical season” that helped create a culture of the sacrifice and commitment needed for the program, boosting morale and maintaining “bonds … that stay long after their playing days” at Choate.
Coach Spinnato’s journey has been filled with many memorable moments. He admires the teams’ competitive nature, particularly how each team member “play[s] the game with passion.” Football has left an insurmountable impact on the Choate community, yet its legacy is still in the making. Currently, the Varsity Football team has a 5-0 record and recently beat Hotchkiss 44-0. Here’s to more years of undefeated seasons and memorable games!
