Hobart High School established athletic programs to promote school spirit.  At the beginning of the century, the first programs included men's and women's basketball as well as track and field. Men's competitive, high school sports did not play a major role in defining Hobart's identity prior to 1920. 

    Then, in 1925, the town built a new gym that solidified Hobart's commitment to competitive high school sports. Ironically, Hobart was slow to adopt the sport of football.  Even after establishing a team in 1927,  the school struggled for two decades to develop a program that could compete with teams from the region's larger industrial cities.  

    In 1949, Russ Deal became Hobart's head football coach.  An All-American at Indiana University, Deal improved dramatically the quality of Hobart football.  In doing so, he established a winning tradition, proving that a small school could compete successfully against larger, Calumet region high schools.  After 1955, the town identified with its winning football program.

    In 1965, Don Howell replaced Russ Deal.  Howell had played for Deal at Hobart, and, like Deal, he starred as a college player at Indiana.  Surrounding himself with coaches who shared an intense commitment to winning football, Howell became the "Vince Lombardi of Hobart."  He won four state championships and established the school as one of the elite football programs in Indiana.  High school football became an inseparable part of Hobart's identity, a small town's claim to fame within the region.

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