The American football huddle was invented by Paul Hubbard, a deaf player at Gallaudet University, to avoid the other team see his signs.

Gallaudet University is the world's premiere liberal arts university for the deaf and the hearing-impaired. Its all-deaf players football team was disbanded in 1994 for "lack of interest." The Gallaudet Bisons hadn't won more than three games a season since 1930. (Source)