Tài liệu TALKING IRISH THE ORAL HISTORY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL docx

[...]... turn created the so-called subway alumni These were the millions of fans who never attended the university, but had passionate feelings for its football 4 / TALKING IRISH team During the 1920s, many of these fans were poor, Catholic, and Irish As they battled prejudice and struggled to join the country’s middle class, they were inspired by Notre Dame s football success Then there were the remarkable... Numbers can’t capture the spirit and the grit Here is the story of Notre Dame football told by the men who lived it PART I THE FORTIES 1 SHADOW OF THE ROCK 1940-1941 ON DECEMBER 7, 1940, DURING THE SEASON FINALE AT SOUTHERN California, Notre Dame coach Elmer Layden charged onto the field to protest what he felt was a rotten call But Layden didn’t stop there After blistering the refs, he screamed at... and death These are only aliases Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before x / TALKING IRISH which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon…” Notre Dame had only won this game 13-7, but there was no turning back The Irish had become the stuff of myth Rockne’s single most fabled... CRASH Notre Dame spent its next ten years trying vainly to maintain its mammoth tradition Then, in 1941, a brooding, eccentric Frank Leahy took over as coach Leahy made Notre Dame a powerhouse again, and it is Leahy’s first decade that kicks off Talking Irish Why did I begin in 1940? Talking Irish is an oral history, based on first-person accounts of Notre Dame football heroes And if you go all the way... were tied 14-14 late in the fourth quarter Thinking the Irish were winning, 6 / TALKING IRISH Leahy instructed his offense to run out the clock Notre Dame wasted a key timeout in its confusion, the game ended 14-14, and the tie cost the Irish the 1948 national championship Still, these incidents happened later in Leahy’s career, when the strain of the job may have taken a mental toll In 1941, according.. .THE ORAL HISTORY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL / ix Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame, Wake up the echoes cheering her name, Send a volley cheer on high, Shake down the thunder from the sky, What though the odds be great or small, Old Notre Dame will win over all, While her loyal sons are marching, Onward to Victory By 1918, when Knute Rockne became head coach, the program already had... put some softness back into the dirt, but there was a lot of horse manure plowed in too Therefore, the tetanus shots.” During the early 1940s, the game was more primitive in other ways There were only four officials to watch for cheapshot artists The rules on clipping were sketchy and barely enforced, so players often got wiped out from behind Players also still wore leather helmets the kind they folded... don’t think the priests at Notre Dame understood Leahy I don’t think they knew how tough he was When you came back to Notre Dame after the summer, Leahy would look at your hands If they weren’t cov- THE ORAL HISTORY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL / 9 ered with calluses, Leahy figured you were a candy ass.” BOB MCBRIDE: “We played Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh that season A year or two before this, they had started... Shift, the offense had largely relied on the fullback or two halfbacks Even when Notre Dame passed, it was frequently one of those running backs doing the throwing But in the more pass-oriented T formation, the quarterback ran the show He stood directly behind the center (rather than several yards back as in the Rockne Shift) From there he could spin, fake hand-offs, and throw downfield All of which... back to 1930, a number of those heroes are deceased In 1998, Notre Dame still has college football s most THE ORAL HISTORY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL / xi hallowed legacy After 110 seasons, the Fighting Irish have had only nine losing records Their 11 national championships, seven Heisman Trophy winners, 77 consensus All-Americans and 757 winning percentage are all collegiate bests But the heritage goes much . decade that kicks off Talking Irish. Why did I begin in 1940? Talking Irish is an oral history, based on first-person accounts of Notre Dame football heroes it. THE ORAL HISTORY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL / xi PART I THE FORTIES 1 SHADOW OF THE ROCK 1940-1941 ON DECEMBER 7, 1940, DURING THE SEASON FINALE AT SOUTHERN California,