Tag: Knute Rockne

Knute Rockne, American Icon

To learn more about Knute Rockne, visit the Knute Rockne Memorial Society page at rocknesociety.org. #NotreDame #USC

USC-Notre Dame is as American as apple pie.

Knute Rockne, more than any other man, gave rise to the Notre Dame-USC rivalry. Interestingly enough, he was courted vigorously by USC in the mid-1920s, but he was still under contract at Notre Dame, so a possible deal to become USC’s new head coach did not get finalized. Rockne stayed at Notre Dame. Howard Jones became USC’s head coach and the man who, with Rockne, launched the Irish-Trojan rivalry which has meant so much to college football over the past 96 years, and which is always a great rivalry when both teams are at or close to their peak.

This year’s game will bring back some of the flavor of Notre Dame-USC.

We talked to Jim Lefebvre, the director of the Knute Rockne Memorial Society, about Rockne and his legend and the USC deal which almost was. The Rockne Society will have its annual Spirit of Sports Awards Celebration this Friday, Nov. 25, at the Center at Cathedral Plaza on 555 West Temple Street in Los Angeles. The festivities begin at 11 a.m.

Here is our podcast with Jim Lefebvre:

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Creator of the USC-Notre Dame rivalry will be remembered Friday in Los Angeles

Friday in L.A., one day before #USC vs #NotreDame, a special event will recognize Knute Rockne, who started the ND-SC rivalry and so much more.

Knute Rockne and Howard Jones launched the Notre Dame-USC football rivalry, arranging the game in 1926 which gave birth to one of the most special college football rivalries of all time.

USC-Notre Dame hasn’t been nationally relevant on both sides for most of the past 15 years. There were a few years in the early part of the century (2002-2006) when the rivalry had some significant games, but the vast majority of ND-SC games over the past 30 years have not been mega-events.

This 2022 game comes close, but with Notre Dame at 8-3, the Irish are spoilers more than title contenders.

We can say the game is a bigger deal than in the recent past, but it sure isn’t 2005, either. We can also say that if Notre Dame and USC play with both teams in the national title hunt, few college football games pop with significance and meaning more than this one.

Knute Rockne created this rivalry with Jones nearly 100 years ago. The coaches of Notre Dame and USC gave rise to something special.

This is part of why the Knute Rockne Memorial Society is bringing its awards celebration to Los Angeles this Friday. Learn about this event. You might want to attend and learn more about a part of Notre Dame-USC history:

Some of my favorite moments from ‘We Are Marshall’

Some clips from an inspiring movie

Notre Dame has “Knute Rockne, All American” and “Rudy” to be associated with. The Irish’s upcoming opponent, Marshall, has “We Are Marshall”, which was born out of circumstances far more tragic than those of a legendary coach or an inspiring walk-on. This movie deals with the aftermath of the plane crash that killed nearly every player and coach for the 1970 Herd. The effort to rebuild the program makes you get behind it.

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t one of my favorite football movies. I guess I’m just a sucker for these feel-good movies, even if this one doesn’t happen against the best backdrop. After all, this isn’t something anyone in their right mind would wish on any community.

With the Irish and Herd about to have their first meeting, I thought this would be a good time to look at a few memorable moments from the flick:

Notre Dame star tight end not fearful of Ohio Stadium

Calm, cool, and collected.

It’s guaranteed to be one of the craziest crowds the entire 2022 college football season should see on Saturday, Sept. 3 when No. 2 Ohio State hosts No. 5 Notre Dame, but Fighting Irish tight end [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] doesn’t think he’ll be phased entering the Horseshoe.

“I don’t think it’s any different than the other stadiums we’re going to be playing in this year. To me, it’s like, ‘home game, away game, just go play football.’ I’m not worried about it.”

-Michael Mayer on August 24, 2022

Mayer met the media after Notre Dame’s fall camp session on Wednesday and delivered that.  Some will get out there and call it bulletin board material but can we all be adults here and admit that if you need some kind of bulletin board material or [autotag]Knute Rockne[/autotag] styled pep-talk before a game like this, that big-time college football probably isn’t for you?

I love that Mayer said it, now I just hope he and the rest of Freeman’s squad go and back that up in just under 10 days.

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Sneak peak of new turf at Notre Dame Stadium tweeted

Think you’ll like this?

The 2022 season is coming, but not fast enough. We know you want to see the field at Notre Dame Stadium sooner rather than later, either in person or on TV. Well, when the season does arrive, the field might look a little different than it has recently. If this tweet from Matt Freeman of Irish Sports Daily is to be believed, new turf has been put down:

If there is anyone out there who somehow believed that Notre Dame Stadium has had the exact same playing surface since [autotag]Knute Rockne[/autotag] coached there, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

All joking aside, it’s nice to see this happen and also appropriate given that [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] is about to coach his first full season. There’s just something about symbolism in sports that makes all of it more romantic. If you can’t find the beauty in that, maybe it’s time to find a new hobby.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame football: Ara Parseghian through the years

With there being 95 days until Notre Dame starts the 2022 season we take a look back at a legend who won 95 games as Notre Dame’s head football coach.

There are 95 days until Notre Dame opens the 2022 college football season at Ohio State and today we continue the countdown with a look back at [autotag]Ara Parseghian[/autotag] through the years as the legendary head coach won 95 games during his time with the Irish.

Notre Dame football was a shell of itself when it hired [autotag]Ara Parseghian[/autotag] following the 1963 season.  That year the Irish went just 2-7 under Hugh Devore and were seemingly light years away from the perennial national championship contender they once were.

Hired that year was Northwestern head coach Ara Parseghian who went 36-35-1 with the Wildcats which may not seem all that impressive but by comparison the program was just 7-28-2 in the four seasons before his hiring.  Parseghian also went 4-0 against Notre Dame in that time which certainly left an impact on the brass in South Bend.

1964 saw Parseghian lead an incredible turnaround as the Irish went 9-1 and were just minutes away from clinching a national championship before giving up a late touchdown at USC in the season’s final game.  Quarterback John Huarte was still named the Heisman Trophy winner that year and only Tim Brown has won a Heisman at Notre Dame since.

Parseghian would get his first of two titles in 1966 after running out the clock at Michigan State in the famed 10-10 tie.  Just how good was that ’66 team?  They pitched six shutouts in 10 games, had just two games finish within a 23 point margin, and four of those 10 games came against teams ranked in the top 10.

1973 was the second of Parseghian’s national titles with the Irish, culminating in a 24-23 thriller over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, his first of two wins against Paul “Bear” Bryant and the Crimson Tide, the second being Ara’s final game as Notre Dame’s head coach, as the Irish beat Alabama to cap the 1974 season in the Orange Bowl.

Parseghian finished his Notre Dame career with 95 victories which trailed only [autotag]Knute Rockne[/autotag] at the time of his retirement, although [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] have both passed Ara since.

One of the best to ever do it at Notre Dame and the key in turning around a program that was on the brink of irrelevance, Parseghian was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980.

Take a look back at Parseghian through the years below:

Did the mob bomb Knute Rockne’s plane?

Yes or no?

I feel like I’m a very passionate Notre Dame fan and know a lot more than just the current day stories.  It was as much the history and mystic of the football program that drew me in as a fan in the early-nineties as it was [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag]’s teams competing for national championships.

From the [autotag]Four Horsemen[/autotag] to [autotag]Frank Leahy[/autotag], [autotag]Ara Parseghian[/autotag], and [autotag]Rocket Ismail[/autotag], I thought I had heard and at least been aware of everything major in Notre Dame’s football history.  I certainly realized I was wrong semi-recently in regards to the man most responsible for Notre Dame football being what it is today, and how that man died.

Or at least a belief some hold about that.

I’m talking about the most notable head coach in college football history of course, [autotag]Knute Rockne[/autotag], and the belief that the mob was responsible for the plane crash that took his life.

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Knute Rockne’s interesting observation of former MLB player

Pardon me, Rock?

It’s safe to say that the world was a different place back in the 1930s.  Just how different you ask?  Let’s look at a certain baseball card and it’s odd connection to Notre Dame football.

Zeke Bonura was a Major League first baseman from 1934-1940 as he spent time with the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, New York Giants, and Chicago Cubs during his career.  His 1936 Goudey World Wide Gum card (No. 112) was brought to my attention Friday night and I just feel the need to share.

Bonura looks like a handsome fella on the front of the card as the picture captures him in a suit instead of his uniform.  It’s the back of the card however that you’ll likely be a bit more interested in as that offers an observation from former Notre Dame football coach that, well, is certainly an observation that was made:

If you can’t see the photo clear enough, it reads:

The late Knute Rockne, glimpsing this handsome youth under a shower at Notre Dame, promptly remarked: “Get a load of that fellow’s physique!  Where upon Henry John was named “Zeke.”

Also, if you’re at all a baseball fan you should be following Christopher Kamka on Twitter.  He’s the biggest stat-head I’ve ever come across and loves baseball as much as anyone I know, especially the White Sox.

On that note I’ll be signing off now.  Talk to you all for the game on Saturday afternoon.

Related:

Notre Dame-Navy: Staff Predictions

Charting Notre Dame’s path to the College Football Playoff

Notre Dame updates depth chart for Navy week

Every 90-plus yard run in Notre Dame football history

Notre Dame football: Injury update ahead of Navy game

Notre Dame-Navy: The world the last time the two didn’t meet (before 2020)

What was the world like last time Notre Dame and Navy didn’t play (previous to 2020, anyway)

Notre Dame and Navy have been playing football against each other for a very long time.  The two met every year from 1927-2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic wound up ultimately costing the two their annual meeting last fall.

Previous to 2020, the last year Notre Dame and Navy didn’t play football against each other was all the way back in 1926.  Here are a variety of things that were going on in the world in 1926:

Notre Dame-USC: fun facts about epic rivalry

For the first time in two fulls years we can say it: Beat SC.

Notre Dame and USC have made up the greatest intersectional rivalries in all of college football for nearly a century and get set to meet for the 92nd time this Saturday in South Bend.

Last year didn’t see the Irish and Trojans meet due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Pac-12 not playing out of conference games, the first time the schools didn’t meet since World War II.

Order is restored and things return to normal this Saturday as Notre Dame welcomes USC to South Bend as the rivalry gets renewed once again.

Ever wondered how these two programs came to be great rivals?  Here are 10 things to know about the history of Notre Dame and USC: