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Jan. 11—Cheer, Cheer for old Notre Dame, of Rudy, the Gipper and Montana fame.
The Notre Dame Victory March is probably the tune most associated with college football.
It had its beginnings before the Irish popularized the forward pass in a stunning 1913 win over Navy. Not only have we heard it when Notre Dame shows up on the tube, but countless high schools have adapted it for use as their fight songs as well.
It’s played repeatedly in the move “Knute Rockne All American,” which spins the story of college football’s most successful coach in the 20s.
Pat O’Brien, the most Irish of actors, played the legendary, Rockne, who was actually Norwegian, to the hilt. O’Brien’s performance came complete with rah, rah, locker room speeches and Rockne’s plea to “Win one for the Gipper.”
Another noted Irishman, Ronald Reagan played the ill-fated Gipp, who died of strep throat after a win over Northwestern in his senior season.
Rockne was only 43 when he died in a plane crash in 1931. His record of 105-12-5 speaks of the dominance of the teams he fielded.
Notre Dame beat Stanford in the 1924 Rose Bowl, but because of the long train ride out to California and the expense, school officials, decided to forego post season play until Jan. 1 1970 when they faced undefeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
The game was a thriller, won by the Longhorns, 21-17. After that, the Irish have played in the post season 44 more times.
Several of those appearances were in the Cotton Bowl. Dallas got a dose of a little known Joe Montana in 1976 when he led Notre Dame to a 38-10 win over Texas and Heisman Trophy winner, Earl Campbell. He was back in 79 to engineer a comeback on a frozen field as the Irish stormed back from down 34-12 to win, 35-34. At game time the temperature was 22 degrees and the wind chill was -6.
When Montana threw the winning 8-yard-TD as…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sports-old-notre-dame-reaches-205100827.html
Author : Athens Daily Review, Texas
Publish date : 2025-01-11 20:51:00
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