Art Huber is just six months shy of his 100th birthday. Yet, when he closes his eyes and remembers, he can still clearly see himself as a 7 or 8-year-old, in the early 1920s, playing in the parks and backyards of his hometown, little Fort Atkinson, Iowa, choosing sides for ballgames. “My team was always Read Full Post
100 Years Ago: The First Notre Dame-Syracuse Battle Cements ND’s National Status
Notre Dame and Syracuse first met on the gridiron to conclude the 1914 season, after the Irish had already made two trips East and lost twice, to Yale and Army. With some questioning whether the Irish really belonged in the battle against top Eastern squads, Coach Jesse Harper’s team suffocated the Orange, 20-0, and cemented Read Full Post
A Special Reunion
Occasionally, we’re asked why Notre Dame doesn’t celebrate Homecoming. The answer, of course, is simple. Every Notre Dame home game is a homecoming, a reunion for ten of thousands of Fighting Irish fans and alums from all over the country. Away games and the Shamrock Series are also opportunities for members of the Notre Dame Read Full Post
Irish Players Honor History in Singing of Alma Mater, Win or Lose
Hats off to Corey Robinson and the Notre Dame football team for understanding that much of what makes Notre Dame football special is its history and tradition. Today the football team voted to sing the “Alma Mater” after every game — win or lose. “It’s bigger than us and it’s bigger than football,” said Robinson, Read Full Post
On This Day…100 Years Ago Rockne Wed
100 years ago today, on July 15, 1914, exactly one month after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame, Knute Rockne married Bonnie Skiles in a simple ceremony in the parish rectory of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Sandusky, Ohio. The witnesses were Charles “Gus” Dorais, the groom’s Read Full Post
On This Day…July 2
On this day (July 2) in 1891, Charles Emile “Gus” Dorais was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. As a child, Gus had a difficult home life, as his father “abandoned the family, and his mother Malvina was taking in laundry, working as midwife, and doing other odd jobs to clothe and feed Gus, older sister Read Full Post
On This Day…July 1
On this date (July 1) in 1961, former Notre Dame football coach Jesse Harper died in Sika, Kansas, at age 77. Harper, a product of the University of Chicago under Amos Alonzo Stagg, became Notre Dame’s first full-time athletic employee when he was hired as athletic director and head coach of football, basketball, and baseball Read Full Post
On This Day…June 30
On this day (June 30) in 1973, Elmer Layden, the fullback of Notre Dame’s famed “Four Horsemen” backfield and later head coach of the Fighting Irish, died in Chicago at age 70. He was the second of the Four Horsemen to die, following quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, who died in 1965 at age 63. Layden, a Read Full Post
Sacred Sod—Or A Move Forward?
Notre Dame traditionalists were struck by the images last week of backhoes removing the sod from Notre Dame Stadium in preparation for the installation of artificial turf. Yes, it is an emotional change in the House That Rockne Built. After all, back in 1930, the sod from legendary Cartier Field—where Rockne, Gus Dorais, George Gipp, Read Full Post