History Rewind Part 39

We chatted quite a bit about the strange season of 1918 in gridiron history complete with war and disease taking their toll on the year. Some good things occurred that season though as well, especially at a small school in South Bend, Indiana where a very innovative coach took the helm and would make quite an impact on college football.

The 1918 season was notable for many reasons as discussed in part 38 of this series. A nation and its young men of football age preparing for war was the major football news from the 1918 season but other items such as controversial losses to powerful squads such as Pitt and Navy also were of note.

1918 though had another story line in the development of football as a great sport and that will be the focus of this edition of  Football History Rewind discussion.

The rise of Rockne

It would be a grave error if it was not noted that Knute Rockne took over as the Notre Dame head coach during the 1918 season. Rockne and his Fighting Irish would soon become the face of football to the nation for a wide array of reasons.

The first thing was their schedule. Just like today the Notre Dame team plays against the top teams from around the country and that included both coasts.

A second reason was that the Notre Dame fight song was played after the Irish scored and this happened often enough to make the song very popular around the country. The song provided identity for the Notre Dame program. The catchy tune turned a lot of folks around the nation who did not even know where South Bend, Indiana was to root for the Fighting Irish and thus their fan base spanned into every nook and cranny of the nation.

A third reason for the popularity of Notre Dame in the football world was that Rockne changed the way the game was played. The major part of how he did it was to have a different strategic approach to winning. The way to win in that era of football was to score first and then hang on to the lead by slowing the game down and playing defense. Rockne’s approach was altogether different as he played a much more wide open style of football which appealed to the fans. Notre Dame almost always scored in double figures each game and they sold out every stadium no matter where they were playing.

Football was becoming big business and schools started to erect mammoth stadiums to accommodate the throngs of people who were now being attracted to watch football. Watching the games live was the only option for a fan to view a game back then.

The final reason was that Knute brought emotion and psychology to the game. He studied his players and knew what motivated each of them. His rousing pre-game and half-time speeches provided tremendous emotional lifts to his squad and their response to his talks proved a very formidable weapon.

Knute Rockne was described by many as “ a warm and genuine person” but the reader should not be fooled by this description. He was also an avid disciplinarian and he inspired even the most average of players to give their best time in and time out. Rockne was very much against dirty play in football. According to Tom Perrin in his book, Football - A College History, Rockne in one conversation with his players told them, “Dirty play is only an honest admission that your opponent is better than you.”

His rousing speeches were not just reserved for game day. Knute was known to orate at practice and his “ Everybody up!” call every day 3:45 PM was the official start of practice. His speaking gems on a group as well as individual basis touched and inspired his players at practice and by the time game day came around they felt invincible. 

Rockne was becoming the poster boy for achieving unrealistic dreams. He rose from a  humble and poor beginning as a child to live the American Dream of fame and success.  He did it with grace, charity and a lot of sacrifice. One of his most motivating slogans was, “Work, work hard, prepare yourself, then go!”

He also spawned many great coaches throughout the land who either played or coached under his system at Notre Dame. It was a great honor to him in 1969, almost four decades after his death that he was voted the number one coach in the first one hundred years of football.    

Rockne is probably best recognized for his motivating speech portrayed in the 1940 classic film, Knute Rockne All American where the legendary coach inspired his players to play hard for an ailing member of Notre Dame football lore, George “the Gipper” Gipp (played by future US president Ronald Reagan). Knute’s speech carried the catch phrase “Win one for the Gipper” of which Reagan used as a campaign slogan in later years for his political campaigns.

As a bit of football trivia this movie along with Rudy were the only flick to be filmed on the actual Notre Dame Campus. I smell another installment of Hollywood Interpretations brewing soon.

The picture in the banner above is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of 1933 Goudey Sport Kings football card of Knute Rockne of Notre Dame #35.