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[bobdrake12]

Next up for Notre Dame - Navy


http://www.navysport...RELEASE_ID=8034







History Of The Navy-Notre Dame Football Series

11/4/2002


History Of The Navy-Notre Dame Football Series

This year's football game between Navy and Notre Dame marks the 75th anniversary of the first Navy-Notre Dame Football game played in Baltimore on 15 October 1927. The 1927 game signaled the start of what is now one of the longest-lived intercollegiate football rivalry in the country...a rich football history tradition that hopefully never will be broken.

Roots in Army-Notre Dame Rivalry

The Navy-Notre Dame football rivalry actually had its roots in the Army-Notre Dame rivalry that began in 1913. In fact, the football histories of Army, Notre Dame, and Navy have been closely entwined from the very beginning.

Army, an eastern football powerhouse, consented to play Notre Dame for the first time in 1913 when a date opened up in the Army schedule. Army was shocked by the Gus Dorais to Knute Rockne passing combination in a game that made headlines on every sports page in the country, revolutionizing college football and marking Notre Dame's first football appearance in the "big league."

In the 1920s, the Army-Notre Dame rivalry became a major annual sporting event in New York City and was described by some as a "pagan autumnal rite." In the 1924 game, Notre Dame's "Four Horsemen" were immortalized by Grantland Rice at the Polo Grounds as Notre Dame beat Army 13-6. By the time Army played Navy at Soldier Field in 1926, the "Win One for the Gipper" game was still two years away.

1926 Army-Navy Game.

In 1926, Navy played Army in Chicago in the Dedication Game of Soldier Field. Navy was undefeated and Army had lost only to Notre Dame. For Navy, this was a game that would decide the national championship.

The game was a national event attended by the entire Corps of Cadets and Brigade of Midshipmen. Grantland Rice described the game in an article syndicated across the nation:

BIGGEST CROWD OF MODERN ERA SEES STRUGGLE

More Than 120,000 People Marvel as Two Great Elevens Fight...

CHICAGO, 27 NOVEMBER: In the most tremendous spectacle in the history of American sport, Army and Navy completed a deadlock at 21-21 as the two teams, like ghostly shadows deep in the darkness of a wintry night, fought to the final play with the skill and courage of the Army-Navy breed. Something between 120,000 and 140,000 looked down upon the most spectacular struggle in the long history of service football as two great elevens fought with desperation unparalleled in the history of sport.

After playing to an epic 21-21 tie, Navy was awarded the National Championship trophy.

This is where it gets interesting. Rockne's Notre Dame team beat Army and all other opponents in 1926, and suffered only one shocking loss to Carnegie Tech. Where was Knute Rockne the day of the Notre Dame loss to Carnegie Tech? Knute was in Chicago watching the Army-Navy game! Clearly, it was time for Notre Dame to take on Navy. The game was scheduled the following October 15th in Baltimore.

In the 1927 Navy-Notre Dame game program, Reverend Mathew Walsh, president, University of Notre Dame would later set the stage for the rivalry:

Notre Dame is pleased indeed to begin football relations with the United States Naval Academy. We are very confident the same cordial relations will exist between the two schools that has been so noticeable all these years with the other branch of service at West Point. Notre Dame, Army, and Navy make an ideal group for a football triangle. Their students live on campus, they draw their student body from all parts of the country, and they are strictly men's schools. The outcome of our games with the Navy and with the Army is not so important as that the best feeling of sport and good-fellowship always prevail. We are indeed happy to have Navy on our schedule: we trust it will continue so long and so amiably as to become a part of our best loved traditions.

1927 Navy N Club Dinner, 29 May

In May following the Army-Navy game in Soldier Field, the new Navy National Champions scheduled the first Navy "N" Club Dinner in Annapolis. Only nine days earlier, Charles Lindbergh had taken off from Long Island to fly to Paris, becoming the first man to fly across the Atlantic, alone in his monoplane. The Navy National Champions chose Knute Rockne as the featured speaker for this august occasion...speaking on the subject of "American football."

The opening page of the dinner program described the mission of the Naval Academy N Club:
During the fall of 1926, Commander Jonas Ingram, director of athletics, and a group of 'N' men stationed at the Naval Academy conceived the idea of banding together all of the wearers of the 'N' in an effort to form an organization to which only Navy athletes, who have won their 'N' would be eligible...
...Let each wearer of the 'N,' with renewed loyalty pledge his whole-hearted support to those things which count for hard fighting, clean sportsmanship, and the 'will to win.'

The head of the dinner committee that evening was Commander W.F. "Bull" Halsey 1904. The General Committee included Tom Hamilton and Frank Wickhorst, both heroes of the 1926 season and subsequently inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame. Tom Hamilton subsequently became the Navy coach in the 1930s, a rear admiral and head of the Pac-10.

Despite the loss of numerous lettermen following the 1926 season and Knute Rockne's speech at the first Navy N-Club Dinner, Navy planned to be ready to play Notre Dame the following October!

1927 Navy-Notre Dame Game.

Knute Rockne returned to Maryland the following autumn for the first Navy-Notre Dame scheduled on 15 October in Baltimore's new Municipal Stadium. In preparation for the contest, a 1927 Stadium Football Trophy was commissioned to award to the game's winner.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the game the next day:

Notre Dame's Powerful Eleven Sweeps to 19 to 6 Victory Over Navy

FATE OF MIDDIES SEALED WHEN CHRIS FLANAGAN IS TURNED LOOSE BY ROCKNE
Youthful Star Shows Real Irish Offense the Way to Victory After Service Eleven Scores on Knute's "Shock Troops" in First Quarter

BALTIMORE, 15 OCTOBER (AP)-For just a little more than two periods, Knute Rockne turned loose a youth named Christy Flanagan on the Navy 11 today and when the dust of the latest Indiana cyclone from South Bend had settled in the Baltimore Stadium, Notre Dame had clinched victory in the first of the season's outstanding intersectional football clashes.

Racing to the rescue of his green-jersied mates at the start of the second period, when Navy had chalked up a lone touchdown lead, Flanagan personally directed the scoring of Notre Dame's first touchdown, brought the ball almost to the sailor goal line, and then retired to leave the polishing off to his teammates.

And to those mates went the glory of piling up the scores after Flanagan, bright shining light in the Rockne offense, had demoralized a promising Navy defense with his blinding hip-shifting speed and general all-round potency behind the sweeping interference of the veteran Notre Dame backs...

Tacoma Youth is Hero of Navy Team

But the hero of the unseasoned Navy crew was neither slippery quarterback, Ned Hannegan, nor bruising 200-pound halfback, Whitey Lloyd, who had been looked upon as the stalwarts in the Navy offense. Out of the Plebe team of last season, making his first bid for fame in a big Navy game, came Art Spring, 18-year old Youngster from Tacoma, WA, with every promise of future stardom.

It was Spring who started at halfback in the place of Lloyd, Navy ace, and stayed long enough to score Navy's points early in the first quarter. It took Navy and Spring less than five minutes to run up the touchdown, aided in the long march from their own 30-yard line by interference with a forward pass that brought the ball to mid-field. From that point, Hannegan, Ransford, and Spring tore through the second string men until Spring finally raced the final five yards around the westerner's left end.

The U. S. Naval Academy yearbook Lucky Bag described the game as follows:
15 October brought clear crisp football weather. On that day the regiment journeyed to Baltimore to see their potentially powerful but green team go down to defeat before the green-clad hordes of Notre Dame, 19-6.

The Irishmen were unquestionably more advanced in all departments, excepting the overhead where Navy outgained them two to one, but the score at the end of the half was: Navy 6, Notre Dame 0, and might have remained there but for one break which tied the score.

The trophy awarded to Notre Dame for victory that day now rests in the trophy case at The Knute Rockne Memorial Building in South Bend.

The Final Years of the Roaring '20s

The following year in 1928, Navy traveled to Chicago to meet Notre Dame in Soldier Field, the site of the 1926 championship game with Army. In the game day program, Edward Kelly, president of the Chicago

South Park Commissioners wrote:
Chicago today salutes you, athletes privileged to wear the "Blue and Gold" of two great schools, meeting again in its midst for the annual tussle that is sure to become, no matter where held, an annual institution. The South Park Commissioners are proud to have two such great schools, renowned in sports annals for true sportsmanship, meeting in peaceful battle on the hallowed ground of Soldier Field, dedicated as it is to the sons of Chicago, the sons of all America, who have given up their lives for the Stars and Stripes.

The athletic traditions of the Naval Academy and of Notre Dame are sufficient guarantee that today will add a new luster to the glorious record of Soldier Field. Great events have taken place here, notable in their influence upon national and spiritual life. Your great game today adds another to the short but brilliant history of this great stadium.

Notre Dame barely beat Navy that day in front of a crowd of 120,000 by a score of 7-0.
Notre Dame returned to Baltimore to play Navy in 1929... without Knute Rockne who was laid up, back in South Bend with phlebitis. Before the game, Knute ordered a special long-distance phone line from his bedside into the locker room where he gave encouragement to each player before the team ran out onto the field. The following year, on 11 October 1930, Navy was selected as Notre Dame's opponent for the formal dedication of Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame was undefeated in both years and named national champions in 1929 and 1930.

The Depression Years

The tragic death of Knute Rockne on 31 March 1931 and the great depression slowed but did not stop college football or the series with Navy. Notre Dame returned to Baltimore on 14 November 1931, a day designated across the nation by the Rockne Memorial Association as Rockne Day. Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Class of 1897, Naval Academy Superintendent, wrote in the gameday program, "It is my privilage to dedicate this program, in the name of the Navy Athletic Association and the Regiment of Midshipmen, to the memory of Mr. Knute K. Rockne." Navy fans will recall that Admiral Hart was in charge of the Asiatic Fleet when the Japanese attacked ten years later.

In 1932, the site of the Navy-Notre Dame game was moved to Cleveland, a site that Knute Rockne had begun negotiations with before his death. The game site then rotated between Baltimore and Cleveland until 1952 with the exception of 1937 when the game was played in South Bend. Navy beat Notre Dame in 1933, 1934, and 1936. There were Navy fans who wanted Navy to break off the Notre Dame series to strengthen the Navy schedule. How times have changed.

America at War

During World War II, the attachment between Navy and Notre Dame grew even stronger. In the 1942 gameday program, Reverend Hugh O'Donnell, president of Notre Dame, quoted an address he had made at the 19th Annual Notre Dame Night earlier that year. He wrote:

TO ADMIRAL NIMITZ-SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC:

My address on the Nineteenth annual Universal Notre Dame Night is a little different. The sons and friends of Notre Dame will not mind if I say a few words to a friend of Notre Dame, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz '05. He is somewhere in Far Eastern waters. He may be on his favorite submarine, aboard a battleship, or aloft a plane, directing operations against the enemy. Even now, he may be engaged in battle.

Admiral Nimitz, wherever you are, Notre Dame greets you. I send this message on behalf of 15,000 Notre Dame men throughout the world. A thousand of them are in our armed forces. This is in keeping with our heritage of patriotism...

Last fall, Admiral, you gave a Navy Day address in Washington Hall. You had never been on our campus before, but you and Notre Dame were not strangers. We had admired you for a long time, and you knew us and our traditions. As Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, you recommended to the Secretary of the Navy the establishment of the Notre Dame unit of the Naval R. O. T. C.

Did you know that our students have doubled up to make room for a thousand of your boys-future officers of the United States Navy? They are sitting before me now.

Yes, Notre Dame is doing its part. We are in this war as much as you are. But Notre Dame is still operating as Notre Dame. We are training men for America, for today and tomorrow.

V12 Cadets marching at Notre Dame

By 1943, the Notre Dame Football Roster listed the "military status" of each player.
USNR ........ 12
Civilian ...... 4
17-yr old ... 9
USMRC ...... 14

Virtually the entire campus was military with relatively few exceptions...17-year olds too young to draft and civilians frequently classified as 4F. Many believe that Notre Dame would have been closed if it were not for the Navy commitment during the war and that this commitment is the reason that the Navy-Notre Dame football rivalry never will be broken.

By 1945, the Notre Dame Naval Reserve Officers Training Program resulted in over 10,000 trainees being commissioned ensigns in the naval reserve. The Notre Dame Club of Cleveland dedicated the 1945 game day program to Fleet Admiral Ernest King 1901, Commander in Chief, U. S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations.

Recent History

We all know the rest of the story. It seemed that it would take a Joe Bellino '61, or a Roger Staubach '65 for Navy to beat Notre Dame again. Navy has not beat Notre Dame since 1963, and the current record is 65-9-1.

In 1999, it seemed the long-awaited Navy victory over Notre Dame would finally take place in Navy quarterback Brian Madden '02's first start. As reported in the South Bend Tribune, "The Irish trailed 24-21 and had the ball on the 28-yard line, in a third and one situation, with 1:39 left to play. Instead of a blast up the middle, Irish quarterback Jarious Jackson rolled out to the right and was sacked for a nine-yard loss...That setup a fourth and ten from the 37. Jackson took the snap, maneuvered through a heavy blitz and connected with Brown. The fifth-year senior lunged for the first down and was close...very close."

Game video replays showed that it really was not close enough. Notre Dame went on to score and win 28-21. Brian Madden commented, "No way they got the first down. They call it the Luck of the Irish."
I know that Navy will beat Notre Dame again one day and I plan to be there...do you? It may be in Baltimore in a few weeks. Navy will "never give up the ship." Stay tuned.

Gerry Motl '68 served in nuclear submarines, and retired as a Naval Reserve Captain. He is currently a CPA, living in Cincinnati. He played football at the Naval Academy, including the 1967 games against Notre Dame, and the 1967 Army-Navy game. He is a big fan of the Navy-Notre Dame rivalry, and has collected all of the Navy-Notre Dame programs since 1927.


Naval Academy Athletic Association. Website Designed by AmericanEagle.com, Inc.

[bobdrake12]

Angelo B. Bertelli was Notre Dame's 1943 Heisman Trophy winner.

As a senior in 1943, after six of Notre Dame's 10 games, Bertelli was activated into the Marine Corps ending his college football career.




Bertelli was replaced by 18 year old Johnny Lujack, and Notre Dame went on to win the 1943 National Championship.

Lujack missed the 1944 and 1945 football seasons by serving in the Navy.




"As part of the war effort, the Navy needed more officers than the Naval Academy was able to produce in a short period of time."


http://www.uhnd.com/...orum.cgi/page=0


History lesson...

Posted by ndfredo on November 06, 2002 at 12:00:21

In Reply to: The Navy series needs to end posted by Andrew on November 06, 2002 at 11:45:49


But, truly understanding the Notre Dame-Navy series requires a trip back to the 1940s, when Leahy had the Irish on top of the football world. Leahy coached the Irish to a national championship in 1943, his third year as head coach, just before enlisting with the Navy to serve in World War II. Following the war, Leahy and the Irish picked up right where they had left off, going four entire seasons without a loss and claiming national championships in 1946, 1947 and 1949.

But World War II cost Notre Dame a lot more than its talented head coach and a slew of players (including 1943 Heisman Trophy winner Angelo Bertelli). It virtually wiped out the small, all-male school.

"When the war started, Notre Dame was nothing like it is today," explains Jack Connor, who played for Leahy in 1948-49 and chronicled the Leahy years in his book, Leahy's Lads.

"The University was having terrible financial problems, and as an all-male school with so many young men being drafted and going off to war, there was almost nobody left to attend the University."

As part of the war effort, the Navy needed more officers than the Naval Academy was able to produce in a short period of time. So a decision was made to utilize a number of institutions across the nation in which young men would attend college and receive training to become officers. Notre Dame became the site for one such program.

Not only did Notre Dame now have a much-needed influx of students preparing to become Naval officers, but the Navy also built a number of facilities on campus that served Notre Dame for years.

"That saved Notre Dame," says Connor.

"Notre Dame probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for Navy."

Connor's sentiment is reflected in Notre Dame's long-standing commitment to the series, regardless of Navy's win-loss record. While the Midshipmen earned a victory and a tie against Notre Dame in 1944-45, the series has been short on victories and long on frustration for the Academy. The 1963 romp over Notre Dame remains Navy's last win in the series, although there have been a number of near-misses, including Notre Dame Stadium thrillers in 1997 and 1999.

It would be inaccurate to say, however, that continuing the series is simply a matter of Notre Dame repaying a debt to Navy that may never be erased.

Because while it would be a stretch to suggest that victories over the Midshipmen have often served to springboard Notre Dame in the national rankings, the annual battles provide the Irish with an opportunity to test their mettle against an unyielding foe.

Steve Orsini served as a captain of Notre Dame's 1977 national championship team. He recalls Parseghian and his successor Dan Devine warning the Irish players they would be up against a different type of opponent when they squared off against the Midshipmen.

"The coaches definitely emphasized things differently in preparation for Navy and the other academies," says Orsini.

"They told us that they weren't going to beat themselves, that they would be very disciplined and that they were never going to give up.

"In every case, that scouting report held true."

It's a scouting report that has remained unchanged and accurate for decades.

"No team on the whole schedule played with more spirit," says Connor.

"And it's still the same - they're disciplined, they're in great shape and they're tough."

Mark Green was a captain on Notre Dame's most recent national championship team in 1988. "You can always count on them to play hard and fight to the finish," says Green.

"They play with a tremendous amount of heart and they execute everything to perfection."

Orsini offers a very unique perspective on the series, having served five years as associate director of athletics at the Naval Academy.

"The series is very important to Navy from a financial standpoint, but it goes far beyond that," he says.

"More important, it's two schools that stand for the essence of the student-athlete. There's no easy way through the academics of Notre Dame and there's certainly no easy way through four years at the Naval Academy."

Years after helping to lead Navy's football team to its victory over Notre Dame in 1963, Tom Lynch returned to lead the Naval Academy as its superintendent for over a quarter of a century.

Rear Admiral Lynch first confesses to a little surprise at how one-sided things have become since the end of his playing days, but continues to be a strong advocate of the series.

"People would ask me why the Academy should continue to play Notre Dame," he says.

"And my answer would always be that when you think of the epitome of college football, you think of Notre Dame with its tradition, graduation rates and quality of players.

"For young men to be able to come to the Naval Academy and have the opportunity to play Notre Dame every year is important, playing on national television, in front of a full house," says Lynch.

"It will be one of the highlights of their careers. You remember two games, Notre Dame and Army."

While acknowledging the restrictions that often prevent the Naval Academy from successfully recruiting as many blue-chip football players as Notre Dame, Lynch embraces the challenge.

"It's great for these young men to be able to measure themselves against the best," he says.

"The purpose of the Naval Academy is to prepare young people for a career of military service," Lynch says.

"In those careers, they're not always going to have the assets and resources that they need, but they're still going to have to get the job done while putting themselves in harm's way.

"There's no question we can't compete in terms in talent," Lynch says.

"But we're still going to give them a hell of a game."

Lynch gets no argument there.

And for those Notre Dame players, coaches and fans that look forward to the opportunity to line up against an opponent that embodies much of what is so important to Notre Dame, Lynch has good news.

"The Naval Academy will not be the one who backs away from this series."

These days in particular, Lynch's words are more than a little encouraging, not only for some football fans, but for a nation.


Originally posted on the UHND.COM FOOTBALL BOARD

[bobdrake12]

Statue of Coach Frank Leahy
At the East Gate of Notre Dame Stadium

© 2001 by Robert F. Ringel.



"Notre Dame probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for Navy."

Per Jack Connor, who played for Leahy in 1948-49 and chronicled the Leahy years in his book, Leahy's Lads.


History lesson...
Posted by ndfredo on November 06, 2002 at 12:00:21
Originally posted on the UHND.COM FOOTBALL BOARD

Edited by bobdrake12, 14 June 2003 - 07:35 PM.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.collegefo...orge_Connor.htm

100 Greatest Players of All-Time

George Connor, Tackle

Holy Cross, 1943-1944

Notre Dame, 1946-1947



Photo from ND sports info


Just how much of a difference does a tackle make? After all, isn't it the quarterbacks and other skill guys who put the points on the board? Maybe, but Connor was the captain of one college football's greatest teams and was among the dominant lineman of his era on both sides of the ball.

Connor dominating the teams in the east while at Holy Cross where he was named to the All-Eastern squad in 1943 and 1944 and was the key player in one of the biggest upsets of the time beating an undefeated Boston College team 55-12. Before transferring to Notre Dame, he served as an executive officer on a sub chaser during World War II.

THE team: Of all the dominant teams in college football history, none may have been more amazing than the 1946 & 1947 Notre Dame squads which went 17-0-1 over those two years outscoring opponents by a total of 562-76 allowing double digit points just once. Connor was the dominating player on those teams captaining the 1947 squad. On a team with such greats as Johnny Lujack, Bill Fisher and Leon Hart, Connor was the leader as a peerless tackler on defense and a devastating blocker on offense.

Small beginnings: Connor grew into a 6-3, 220 pound player with sensational speed, but it didn't look like he'd be a lineman when he was born prematurely weighing three pounds, two ounces. At Chicago's De LaSalle high school, he won every high-school honor available before going off to Holy Cross and starting as a 17-year-old freshman.

The Outland Trophy: In 1946, Connor was the recipient of the first Dr. John Outland Award going to the nation's top lineman. Even though he was named the "outstanding lineman of the year" by the Football Writers Association of America, he wasn't going to win the Outland Award at first because there was no actual trophy. Connor ended up getting the trophy in a ceremony in 2000.

The pro career: Out of college, Connor was taken by the Boston Yanks and traded to the Chicago Bears. As a Bear, he was one of the last of the 60-minute players to play full-time both offense and defense. He was a five time all-NFL selection as a tackle on offense and a tackle and linebacker on D. Think Brian Urlacher if he were to play in the 50s. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

Honors:

College Football Hall of Fame - 1963
Outland Trophy - 1946
All-America - 1946, 1947
Pro Football Hall of Fame - 1975
NFL Pro Bowler - 1950 - 1953
All-New England - 1942, 1943

Edited by bobdrake12, 11 January 2003 - 07:59 AM.

[Chip]

How to stop worrying and love THE BOMB.

[bobdrake12]

Chip,

Football provides a great avenue to build character as a player and a healthy pastime as a supporter.

Thanks for your contribution!

bob

http://lamb.archives.../navy/navy.html

[bobdrake12]

http://www.nadn.navy...es/Athletic.htm




Navy/Notre Dame Football 1939. Navy team captain Alan Bergner leads the way for Navy's all out effort against Notre Dame. The game ended in a disappointing 14-7 loss. Bergner lined up against his hometown teammate, Army team captain Harry Stella, for the fortieth meeting between the academies and helped lead Navy to the first of three victories in a row over Army for Coach Swede Larson. [#2874; 219K]




Roger Staubach, Class of 1965. For his performance during the 1963 season he was named recipient of college football's top honor, the Heisman Trophy. He is the only midshipman to win the Academy's Thompson Trophy Cup for best all-around athlete three consecutive years. Staubach played his entire 11 years of professional football with the Dallas Cowboys, leading his team to four Super Bowls, and achieving victories in Super Bowls VI and XII. He was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, his first year of eligibility. [#2930; 219K]


http://www.nadn.navy...navy/An1960.htm




Joseph "Joe" Bellino (Navy), Heisman Trophy winner, 1960.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.heisman.com/years/1963.html





1963

ROGER STAUBACH

NAVY BACK





Roger Staubach was hailed by Navy coach Wayne Hardin as "the greatest quarterback Navy ever had."

In 1963, he completed more than 115 passes, nine for touchdowns, and as a sophomore completed 67 of 98 pass attempts and was the leading percentage passer in the nation. In the Michigan-Navy game of 1963, he connected on 14 passes for 237 yards, and against West Virginia he completed 17 passes.

He was the fourth junior to win the Heisman Trophy.

Of Roger's subsequent professional career with the Dallas Cowboys, not much needs to be said other than that he proved himself to be one of the finest quarterbacks in history in terms of both performance and team leadership. Roger joined the Cowboys in 1969 following four years service in the Navy, with one year in Vietnam. He was voted MVP in Super Bowl VI and voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985, the first year he became eligible for this honor.

Roger is Chairman and CEO of The Staubach Company, a diversified commercial real estate company headquartered in Dallas.

Roger was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1981.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.usna.com/...2/01/Season.htm


They Say It’s a Losing Season By Craig Corbett ’73




'01 Navy Football Team
Photo courtesy of Andrea Campbell


On 1 December 2001, Navy concluded a football season in which the team did not win a single game. I heard all sorts of comments about the character of the players and how respectable they are. I heard and read many other platitudes about our players and about the Brigade in general, but I take exception to the terms "winless" and "losing." Sure, we came out on the short end of the score in each game Navy played this year. It seems that Navy loses a lot of games these days, but ten times Navy suited up and took to the field. Ten times the players ran through the tunnels to cheering crowds. Ten times they played 60 full minutes of 100% football. Georgia Tech, for example, while beating Navy 70-7 still had to play its game to the last second. Ten times the players representing the Naval Academy stood at attention while Navy Blue & Gold rang out after each game. Ten times the Navy players congratulated the other team. Ten times, though disappointed, the Navy players walked off the field with their heads held high, justly proud of their best efforts.

Navy football encompasses a lot more than Saturday afternoons. Beginning in August they gathered. These college student-athletes had not even enjoyed a full summer off. They had gone on their respective cruises; they had attended their Spa-Tra-Mids and Ac-Tra-Mids, their duties on Plebe Detail, and their other training opportunities around the world. They may have had a total of six weeks off. They came together in the hot August sun and began their preparations for a very long season. Every day they practiced. Navy practices are just like the games—100% effort. They were asked to pay the price, and they paid it gladly. Their rewards were nothing compared to what civilian college football players receive. At Navy, football players do not have to march in parades. They may still have training tables, but that’s hardly a great benefit for any of them except the Plebes. Otherwise, Navy players still have all the requirements of every other member of the Brigade. The military development responsibilities remain. The scholastic requirements remain. The discipline remains. Life in Bancroft Hall has its own consistency, with no one ever totally exempt.

Navy football this year wasn’t just about the starters or those who played in the ten games. Consider those men on the practice teams. When I played football in high school, we called ourselves scrubs or meat squads and maybe a few other things.

Does anyone wonder what it was like this year for the players whose only hope was to play the role of the opposing team in practice, drilling the first teams and helping prepare for the games? What grand fortitude these players showed all year long. They made all the sacrifices everybody else made. They got no real tangible rewards, just like the starters. Unlike the starters, though, nobody ever carried them shoulder-high around King Hall, the Midshipmen’s Wardroom, which we called the mess hall. No one chanted their names at pep rallies. No one wrote about them in the newspapers. If they are lucky, they will have a yellow N to put on their bathrobes or jackets. Most of them will not be so lucky. There is hope for next year. They lived out that hope every day this season. All these weeks since August they have labored, sacrificing valuable study time and making up their class assignments and exams, many suffering lower grades at an institution which values them tremendously as people, students, future officers, while at the same time demanding that the highest academic standards be met by them, as well as all the other students there.

At the end of the semester, they went on Christmas leave. They return to the Dark Ages. They return to the same demanding academics. They return for their continued development as junior officers to lead our nation’s sailors and marines. There will be no bowl game parades or parties for them. There is only a return to life in the shadow of the Chapel dome, within earshot of the bells of Mahan Hall. They will march during Commissioning Week at a minimum. Those who do not graduate will go off to their summer training again. And next August, they will gather once more to prepare for another season.

Among other things, character is a large part of college football at Navy. Our Midshipmen competed with dignity, full effort, and respect. It takes a lot of courage to go out, day after day, giving 100% when one knows or suspects that the result will be a losing score on Saturday. We may learn many valuable lessons from them. Our Midshipmen lost the scoring contest in each of their ten games this year, but they won every other thing there is to win in football, and in life.


Craig Corbett ’73 played company sports at USNA—soccer, field ball, and slowpitch softball—winning the Brigade Championship in softball during his Plebe Year. Corbett resigned from the Academy after two years and continued his studies at the University of Florida. He graduated with a bachelor of science in 1973 and a juris doctorate in 1975. Corbett practiced law for 18 years and then went to seminary at Emory University, graduating in 1996 with an master’s of divinity. He is a former United Methodist pastor, again practicing law in Orlando, FL. He is a Blue & Gold Officer and has served as a member of several congressional committees selecting nominees to USNA

[bobdrake12]

http://www.heisman.com/years/1960.html





1960 - 26TH AWARD

JOSEPH BELLINO

NAVY BACK





Joe Bellino, at 5'9" and 181 pounds, in Navy's 1960 season (9-1), gained 834 yards, over half his team's total of 1,650 yards. He competed five of 14 passes, two for touchdowns, caught 15 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns. His quick-kicks averaged 47.1 yards and he returned 5 punts for 97 yards and 11 kickoffs for 240 yards. He was Navy's chief scorer in 1960 with 18 touchdowns for 110 points.

After a four-year stint in the Navy, Bellino was signed by the (then) Boston Patriots and played for three seasons. In 1968, he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, but preferred to retire from football rather than move his family.

For the past thirty years, Joe has worked in the automobile industry, specializing in the wholesale auto auction and consumer leasing business. Presently Joe is Director of National Accounts for ADESA Boston, a subsidiary of Allete Corporation (formerly Minnesota Power). Joe is also Director of the Northern Bank and Trust Company and is active in many charities in the New England area. Bellino served over 28 years in the U.S. Navy and the Naval Reserve and holds the rank of Captain, USNR (Ret.). Joe and his wife Ann have two children, Therese and John.

Joe was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1977.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.nd.edu/~gmacke/#





http://www.nd.edu/~gmacke/pictures.htm


http://www.nd.edu/~gmacke/game2.html




2001 Notre Dame 34 - Navy 16

[bobdrake12]

http://www.nd.edu/~gmacke/#





http://www.nd.edu/~gmacke/pictures.htm


http://www.nd.edu/~gmacke/game2.html




2001 Notre Dame players celebrating victory over Navy

[bobdrake12]

Notre Dame gets by Navy - ND is now 9-1


http://www.blueandgo...896&TopicArea=1





11/9/2002 5:15:00 PM

FOURTH-QUARTER RALLY SAVES ND, 30-23

by Lou Somogyi, Associate Editor





Notre Dame’s 39th consecutive victory over Navy was one of its most hard-earned as two touchdowns in the final 4:28 rallied it from a 23-15 deficit for a 30-23 triumph.
It tied the single-season school record of six victories by eight points or less, matching Elmer Layden’s 1939 squad that was 6-2 in such outings.

Despite losing the turnover battle for the second straight week and getting out-rushed 216-68, the Irish found enough resolve in the final quarter to raise their record to 9-1 and keep alive their chances for a Bowl Championship Series bid.

Carlyle Holiday passed for a career-high 272 yards (13-of-21), highlighted by the game-winning 67-yard scoring toss to Omar Jenkins, who caught the ball near the Irish 20 and cut between two Midshipmen defenders with 2:08 remaining.

Minutes earlier, with the Irish trailing 23-15, Holiday and Jenkins hooked up on a 29-yard toss to the Navy one, setting up Rashon Powers-Neal’s touchdown run with 4:28 remaining. Holiday then lofted a well-placed pass to Arnaz Battle for the two-point conversion that knotted the score at 23.

Navy had two possessions in the final two minutes, but the first ended with a Glenn Earl interception that was returned to the Navy 40 and the second was halted when Courtney Watson picked off an Aaron Polanco pass to seal the verdict.

Polanco was pressed into action when starting QB Craig Candeto suffered a sprained ankle on the opening series. But he acquitted himself while running the option nearly flawlessly through the first three quarters.

After a Notre Dame safety on a high long snap on a punt attempt, Polanco directed a 95-yard TD drive in the second quarter, capped by his 12-yard scoring jaunt. The Irish did take a 9-7 halftime lead when fullback Tom Lopienski scored his first TD of the season.

Navy regained the lead at 14-9 on a one-yard Polanco sneak, but that lasted 18 seconds as Vontez Duff’s 92-yard kickoff return for a score gave the Irish a 15-14 lead. But Polanco responded with an 80-yard drive, capped by an option pitch to Eric Roberts for a 10-yard scoring run. After a Ryan Grant fumble, Eric Rolfs’ 36-yard field goal extended Navy’s lead to 23-15 with 1:07 left in the third quarter.

Powers-Neal, who played the entire fourth quarter in place of Grant, led the Irish ground game with a pedestrian 51 yards on 17 carries. But after missing the past couple of weeks with a quadriceps injury, Powers-Neal held on to the ball and was more adept at hitting holes. Grant carried 10 times for 13 yards and lost two fumbles. Holiday’s passing enabled the Irish to out-gain Navy 340-268.

Jenkins’ 166-yard receiving effort was the most by an Irish receiver since Bobby Brown had 208 in a loss at Pittsburgh in 1999.

The Irish defense missed strong safety Gerome Sapp, who was sidelined with a knee injury. His presence might have aided Notre Dame’s run defense, which didn’t pick up the pace until the fourth quarter. Watson’s 12 tackles paced the Irish, including a sack. Brandon Hoyte and Justin Tuck had nine apiece.

[bobdrake12]

[bobdrake12]

Congratulations Vontez Duff!!!



AP photo

Notre Dame's Vontez Duff breaks the Maryland game open in the third quarter with a 76-yard punt return for a TD.(AP)


Vontez Duff is the first ND player to ever return an interception, a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in one season.

During the 2002 season, Duff earned touchdowns for ND with a:

o 92 yard kickoff return against Navy

o 76 yard punt return against Maryland

o 33 yard interception return against Purdue

Edited by bobdrake12, 14 June 2003 - 08:18 PM.

[bobdrake12]

Cornerback Shane Walton has been named as a semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award for the nation's best college defensive back


http://search.news.y...os&p=notre dame

Notre Dame safety Shane Walton (42) works a drill during practice Tuesday Nov. 12, 2002, in South Bend, Ind. Walton frequently makes to youth groups and hospitals, revealing a caring side that fans and opponents don't see from the cocky, hard-hitting cornerback. ``Any time we need someone to go visit someone at the hospital, Shane is always available,'' said Eric Guerra, the university's student development coordinator.(AP Photo/Joe Raymond)


Copyright © 2002 Associated Press

[bobdrake12]

http://users.ev1.net...rts/a110766.JPG





Star Irish quarterback Terry Hanrattay member of Notre Dame's 1966 National Championship team.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.s-t.com/d...-05-99/main.htm





Notre Dame running back Nick Eddy member of Notre Dame's 1966 National Championship team.

[bobdrake12]

1966 - Duffy Daugherty's Spartan's versus Ara Parseghian's Fighting Irish


http://www.collegefo...100_Games_3.htm


Collegefootballnews.com

Top 100 Games of the Century

Notre Dame 10…Michigan State 10

November 19, 1966


Win one for the Gipper it wasn't. When soliciting the thoughts of various media members and fans for the greatest games of all time, this one was mentioned in a surprising amount of the responses. In the history of college football, there might not have been a game with more of a feeling of emptiness and dissatisfaction than this one. If a tie is like kissing your sister, this chick looked like Beano Cook.

The #1 ranked Irish and #2 ranked Spartans battled and bruised each other to no avail. Star Irish quarterback Terry Hanrattay was knocked out after getting crushed in the first quarter by Spartan defensive lineman Bubba Smith. Starting Notre Dame running back Nick Eddy was out entirely after hurting his shoulder getting off the train in East Lansing.

Even without their stars, the Irish found themselves tied 10-10 with the ball on their 30-yard line with time to go for the touchdown or at least a game-winning field goal. But head coach Ara Parseghian elected to run the clock out and take the tie. Why?

Excuse #1: The backup Irish QB Coley O’ Brien, a diabetic, was completely run down and couldn’t throw. You'd think they could've found an apple for him to eat.

Excuse #2: After being down 10-0, the Irish totally dominated the second half and didn’t want to make a mistake and give the game away. Whatever. In the eyes of college football fans, the disappointment turned into contempt for the Irish for playing it so safe when Michigan State pulled out all the stops to try and win the game.

The reality is the tie would give the Irish their best shot at the national title. After throttling USC 51-0, they won the national championship while Michigan State ended up #2.

[bobdrake12]

http://sportsillustr...e/661128lg.html

[bobdrake12]

http://sportsillustr...e/670911lg.html




In 1967, Notre Dame finished 5th in the nation with an 8-2 mark. Notre Dame's two losses were to USC and Purdue.

[bobdrake12]

http://sportsillustr...e/701109lg.html





In 1970, Joe Theisman led Notre Dame to a 9-0 mark, but ND's perfect season was spoiled by USC's 38-28 victory.

[bobdrake12]

http://sportsillustr...e/710111lg.html





The 1970 Notre Dame team upset #1 ranked Texas 24-11 in the Cotton Bowl. Notre Dame finished 2nd and Theisman finished 2nd in the Heisman Trophy voting that year.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.irishlege...fctfmdome2.html


Excerpt from Joe Theismann and Dan Kindred's book Theismann




Joe was one of Notre Dame's all-time great quarterbacks


This chapter from Joe's biography, about his Notre Dame years, is called, Theesman, Thighsman, "You Heard It Here".

I had learned enough about the Notre Dame tradition and its place in football to know it was for me. If you want to be a doctor, go to Johns Hopkins. Go to Harvard if law is it.

I wanted pro football. For pro football, Notre Dame was the place. It was my Harvard. Just in case they had recruited some Methodist out of New Jersey, who had never heard of Notre Dame, my first week they showed us the movie Knute Rockne, All-American. It's the one with Ronald Reagan as George Gipp and Pat O'Brien as Rockne. Watching it, you get the idea that Notre Dame has all these ghosts helping it win every week.

Unfortunately, not everyone agreed that I was a legend-in-the-making. A Jersey newspaper headline read, "LITTLE JOE TO GET KILLED AT NOTRE DAME." And that paper was not alone in figuring I might be too small for Notre Dame. When I showed up at South Bend in 1967, two assistant coaches met the plane. The linebacker coach, John Ray, saw me first, all 148 pounds of me, and grabbed coach Joe Yonto's arm. "Who's that skinny kid?" Ray said, and Yonto said, "That's the quarterback I recruited."

"Oh, no," Ray said. "They're going to break his neck." (I certainly didn't think so. Sure, there were six other quarterbacks there, and all of them were 6'4", but I decided, the way dreamers do when they're scared to death, that I was going to be the best of the bunch and the best in Notre Dame history. So there.) Even Ara Parseghian had second thoughts. My first scrimmage as a freshman against the varsity put me against great players like Alan Page, Jim Lynch, and Kevin Hardy. Ara said: "They'd beat him into the ground, and I'd think that was the end of little Joe. But he always got up for more."

My sophomore year, 1968, I spent our first seven games sometimes returning punts, but mostly sitting on the bench behind Terry Hanratty, the 6'2', 210-pound Heisman Trophy candidate. I was 5'11, maybe 155, all arm, and candidate for nothing. Suddenly, all that changed. In the seventh game, Hanratty was injured. Coach Parseghian could have used Coley O'Brien, who'd been the quarterback the year before, but Ara took an enormous chance on a sophomore who'd played only a few minutes all season. Me.

When Coach Parseghian told me I would start, everything changed. I played the game in my mind the night before. I didn't sleep at all. And then it was game day, and then ...

The morning of the game I'm walking through the woods around the lake by St. Joseph's monastery, where we stay the night before games. I'm too nervous to just sit in my room and wait. I'm walking and I'm thinking, "This is my first start." I'm scared and I'm praying, "Please God, if you got a minute this afternoon, check on me, will you?"

It's one thing to be on a team as a reserve and punt returner who knows he's not going to play much, if at all. You're relaxed because you have very limited responsibility. The game won't be won or lost on something you do. You look around the locker room and have fun.

It's another thing, a very different thing, to be making your first quarterback appearance for Notre Dame.

Everybody in the locker room is looking at me, little Joey Theismann who's going to get killed, and if I go to the bathroom once, I go 15 times. Scared to death.

Look, two years before, I had never heard of Knute Rockne. Then all of a sudden I'm playing for the ghosts of Notre Dame. Johnny Lujack and Frank Leahy and Rockne and Gipp-they didn't know about me two years ago, but suddenly they're sitting on my shoulder whispering advice.

I look at my teammates around the locker room. Do they know how scared I am? I'm trying to put on this air of confidence like, hey, be cool, guys, everything's under control. Meanwhile, I'm heading back to the john.

Everybody's up for the game. Everybody's dressed. It's almost time to leave the locker room. There are occasional shouts and whoops and lockers clanging when somebody kicks a door. Then, in one voice, everybody's roaring. ROARRRRR! LET'S GO000000!!!

I pull on my helmet, snap the chin strap, and we go from this bright, roaring locker room into a dark little stairway where you have to hold on to a railing to get down. It leads us to a dark passageway. We're somewhere under the stadium seats in this dark tunnel, and there's a chill in the air and a dank smell like an old basement.

We've stopped walking in the tunnel now and we're waiting to be introduced, and ahead of us you can see light streaming to the tunnel entrance. You hear the crowd sounds kind of muffled, like thunder far away, and you hear the Notre Dame fight song. They're introducing our guys one at a time. For each one there's a ROAR! For their guys a BOOO!

Then it's my turn to go out. I run out there and the sound hits me like a shock wave. I run out of the dark into the light and out of the silence into the roaring. It's unbelievable. It's like you don't exist one second and you have the whole world the next. Like being born.

We beat Pitt that day, 56-7. 1 was 8-for-11 passing, and Coach Parseghian told the press afterward: "I had every bit of confidence in Theismann's ability. We know he's small and doesn't measure up to the stature of a Hanratty, but he has plenty of talent."

When Ara said that about my size, I was right beside him, and I raised up on my tiptoes to look down on him. Frightened, nervous, anxious-I had been all of that. But I wasn't paralyzed by it. The challenge excited me. Why should little Joey get killed at Notre Dame? In high school I could outrun most guys, and nobody ever got a clean hit on me. Why should Notre Dame he any different?

After the Pitt game, I started every game throughout my Notre Dame career and broke most of the passing records, including George Gipp's total-offense record. Little Joe wasn't all that little anymore, either, getting up to 177 pounds. My senior year, 1970, Ara said: "Don't ever underestimate Joe. He can pass and he can run; he's a great scrambler and a great leader. He's a winner. And don't let his size fool you. I know other quarterbacks who don't have size like Lenny Dawson and Johnny Unitas."

Notre Dame gave me so much. It gave me a chance to be part of a great college tradition. And there were so many great players on those teams of 1967-70: Tommy Gatewood, Terry Hanratty, Mike McCoy, Bob Olson, George Kunz, Billy Barz, Denny Allen, Larry Shoemaker, Mike Creaney, Jim Seymour, Bob Kuechenberg, Chuck Zloch, Scott Hemple, Mike Oriard, Joe Haggar, Ed Gulyas, Larry DiNardo, Dan Novakov.

Notre Dame also gave me Joe and Mary Hickey, who kind of adopted me, a kid away from home, as their own. I met them at a barbecue for the freshman football players, and they made their home my home. Anytime I wanted a place to go, they were there. Now we're talking a good Catholic family with a lot of kids. It was great. Joe would be walking around in his boxer shorts and he might have a Scotch and soda in his hand. He'd prop his feet up on the ottoman and wouldn't know who the hell was in his house. He had some of his and some of somebody else's. For me, the Golden Dome was special, and so were Joe and Mary Hickey.

And Notre Dame also gave me Ara Parseghian. Ara saw everything. I was always scared to death of him. He'd have six teams running in practice and he'd be watching from his tower. I'd peek up and he'd be looking the other way, and I'd run a play and suddenly I'd hear his thin, squeaky voice, "Why'd you throw it over there?" It reminded me of my father at 10:30 at night. How the heck did he know?

The first time Ara asked me to come to his office was after my sophomore year. I've met Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter, but only with Ara did I feel as if I was in the presence of royalty. It wasn't so much a young kid's insecurity. Ara was just larger than life. A fiery guy. Cheerleader. Effervescent. Left-handed, so he was always throwing that left fist to the air. He is of Armenian ancestry, so he had a handsome tan glow even in the winter. Dapper. Always in control. The kindly king. The boss.

That day in his office, we chatted only about the season and maybe about classwork. Ara was dedicated to academics for his guys, so much so that Notre Dame even made a student out of me.

In high school I had just goofed around because I had enough smarts to get by. At Notre Dame, though, that all changed. Schoolwork came very hard to a guy who'd rather be shooting pool at the student union. But I made a commitment to study, a commitment that had nothing to do with education. It had to do with staying eligible to play football. I went to Notre Dame strictly to play ball. But after two years, I found out that school wasn't tough if you applied yourself.

Notre Dame is proud of its athletic-academic record. The NFL players' union says that out of 1,500 pro players, about 35 percent actually graduate from college. Notre Dame graduates almost everybody. I got a B.A. in sociology. It didn't make me Einstein, but I am proud of my diploma.

It meant I stayed eligible, and sometimes that meant just showing up at class. My teacher for freshman math, Jake Kline, the baseball coach, believed that if you came to class every day, you deserved an A. He figured you had to be a stonebrain not to soak up something. Math by osmosis. We called him Straight-A Kline. One guy got a B because he hardly ever came to class.

By my senior year I was a real student with grades good enough to be Academic All-America. Still, I was a quarterback, not a rocket scientist. So I took courses such as Speech and Argumentation. For that one we'd sit around talking and arguing. You had to be fast with the words and you had to make a reasoned case. Of all my classes, Speech and Argumentation turned out to be the most beneficial. I got A's and Bs. The world can thank Notre Dame for teaching Joe Theismann to speechify and argumentate.

But one of the most important things I learned was taught to me by Roger Valdiserri, the Notre Dame sports information director. He devised rules for interviews, which I remember to this day. These are also rules, alas, that I broke much too often.

Roger's rules: (1) always compliment the opposition; (2) always compliment your teammates; and (3) never take credit for yourself Roger said, "If you do those things, you pretty much can't get into trouble." These fundamentals seem self-evident. But just in case, Roger would stand across the room, behind the interviewer, and he'd shake his head "Yes," answer the question, or "no," avoid that one.

These were great lessons for a kid out of Jersey, and they have helped me. For years-except, of course, when they slipped my mind. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I always had Roger with me, nodding or shaking his head, telling me when to shut up and when to talk.

I never needed much help or encouragement to speak up, as Coach Parseghian learned early. We beat Pitt and Georgia Tech easily my first two starts that sophomore season of '68, and then came Southern Cal. For me, Southern Cal was the ultimate measuring stick of how good you were. They were like a pro team. They were ranked No. 1 in the nation. They had a running back named O.J. Simpson.
My first pass of that USC game was intercepted by Sandy Durko, who ran it back 21 yards for a touchdown. The game was 40 seconds old and we were behind, 7-0.

As I jogged over to the sidelines, Coach Parseghian just looked at me. I said, "Don't worry about it, I'll get it all back." In retrospect, I don't know why I said that. I was only a sophomore making my third start in front of Notre Dame's holy ghosts. The game was on national TV, against the nations No. 1 team. But I said it, and I think it set the tone for the rest of my life. I believed in myself. I believed I could meet any challenge. I guess I could have said, "I'm sorry," or, "Please don't take me out. " But promising to get the TD back were words that just came naturally to me because of the confidence I'd developed with teams that had met all challenges. I'd succeeded at every level from Pop Warner to South River High in baseball, basketball, and football. If you've never lost, you don't worry about losing. You find ways to win.

And I was lucky enough for almost 20 years to play with guys whose success and confidence rub off on me. Our center in 1968, Mike Oriard, wrote a book about his football career, The End of Autumn. Mike wrote that the skinny new quarterback in '68 could run and throw and was more durable than he seemed. "Joe was also brash, even cocky," Mike said, "but in an engaging manner that exuded confidence rather than conceit." Sometimes, that confidence got me into trouble, as it would again and again in the years to come. Here I was, this sophomore, yelling and hollering at older players. I just couldn't stand it when mistakes were made. I took it as my responsibility to point out those mistakes.

Lucky for me, my quarterback coach, Tom Pagna, realized the need for a buffer between me and some of the others. When I yelled at a receiver, blocker, or running back, he'd yell at me even louder: "Theismann, would you shut up! You run the team, and let us coach it!" And every once in a while, I did.

So after throwing that interception to Durko, I trotted toward Coach Parseghian and decided to be engagingly confident. By halftime, we were ahead, 21-7. We scored once on a trick play when I handed off to Coley O'Brien at halfback and he threw back to me for a 12-yard touchdown.

A reporter on the sidelines asked what I thought about being ahead. I said, "It's terrific. Do you expect Notre Dame to be anywhere else?"

We ended in a 21-21 tie with the nations No. 1 team. Ara said, "Theismann, after that incident in the first quarter, must be admired for his courage, the way he came back like that." Reading those words in the newspaper the next day made me feel good, not only about myself but also about the team. We had come back, not just I. My junior year, we were 8-1 -1 and accepted the school's first bowl bid in 40 years. We lost to Texas in the Cotton Bowl, 21-17, and that victory gave Texas the national championship. My senior year we had a real shot at the title; we were undefeated going into our last regular season game-at Southern Cal.

Southern Cal jumped on us hard, 21-7 in the first quarter, and it was 38-14 early in the third quarter. Then it started to rain. It rained like you've never seen it rain. The field was a quagmire. On the sidelines, water came over your shoes. Guys were fumbling the ball all over the place. Ara said to me, "Put it up."

So we did. We threw the wet football all over that swamp. Our last 21 plays were all passes. For the day, I threw 58 passes and completed 33 for 526 yards. Southern Cal's quarterback, Jimmy Jones, couldn't hold onto the ball, and I was throwing it around like it was a sunny Sunday in the park... But we just couldn't score in that rainstorm and lost, 38-28. The ironic thing about that game is that 11 years later, I'd be playing for Southern Cal's Offensive-line coach, Joe Gibbs.

The loss killed our chances for the national championship, but we went back to the Cotton Bowl against Texas again, and this time we won, 24-1 1. We finished with a 10-1 record, and my college career, after starting with negative questions, ended with affirmative answers. In games I started, we were 20-3-2. The All-America voters put me on their first team, and then I held my breath waiting to hear who would win the Heisman Trophy. Emotionally, my hopes had been built up all season by people saying, "You have a real good chance of winning the Heisman." Everybody around South Bend wore "Theismann for Heismann" buttons. It had affected me so much that I was actually figuring how much the Heisman could mean in dollars when the NFL drafted me.

There were three other logical candidates. Jim Plunkett at Stanford, Rex Kern at Ohio State, and Archie Manning at Mississippi.

The Heisman is 50 percent publicity and 50 percent ability. The voters are newspapermen and broadcasters from all across the country. It figures that they'll most likely vote for the players they know best. So it seemed the Midwest and the South would be split between Rex, Archie, and me. Jim was very strong in the West, and I would lose votes in the Midwest because Rex was close by at Ohio State. No one knew what the East would do. Sounds like political candidates waiting for election returns.

When the telephone rang that afternoon in the Notre Dame sports information office, I figured, "This is it." Instead, the phone call was the start of a seven-year period in which I'd keep wondering if I would ever make it big after college.

The call was to let us know that Jim Plunkett had won. Jim deserved it. He was a great quarterback. But it still was a traumatic moment for me because I wanted that Heisman Trophy so much; I truly thought I had earned it, not only with a good senior year but with a junior season that statistically was the best any offensive player had ever had at Notre Dame. Paul Hornung won the Heisman at Notre Dame when they went 2-8. 1 lost it going 10-1.

Maybe the change of pronunciation of my name upset some voters who saw that as an opportunistic device. Fact is, all I did was use the true and original pronunciation of the family name brought over from Austria.

After my sophomore year, Roger Valdiserri asked, "How do you pronounce your name?"

A strange question. I said, "Theesman.1' Roger said, "There's the Heisman Trophy, Joe. And I think we should pronounce your name as Thighsman.

I wasn't going to change my name simply because of some trophy. So I called my father. "Dad, how do we pronounce our last name?"

He said, "What?"

"Please, just answer my question, Dad." He said Theesman. But he also said my grandmother Eva insists it's Thighsman.

I told Roger, "Well, my grandmother pronounces it that way. What the heck, let's do it."

My grandmother, Eva Theismann, said our family name was pronounced Thighsman until the Theismanns registered in American schools and the people read the name the easiest way they could-Theesman. Grandmother Eva was 88 years old in 1986 when she said, "I am very disappointed in those reporters who say Joey changed his name to win that trophy, whatever it is. It is not true. His name is said Thighsman. American kids called us Theesman and we didn't care. But now my people are all dying off and I'm glad the name is correct."

Grandmother Eva said she had heard a radio broadcast reporting that I had changed my name to win the Heisman Trophy.

So we called that radio station, and I told them, "Get it straight once and forever. Thighsman is how we said it in Austria. Thighman is how we said it on Ellis Island, and Thighsman is it."

Grandma also said, "You know, Joey had to go to college to learn how to pronounce his name."

[bobdrake12]

http://www.irishlege...oethiesmann.htm





Great full color photograph of Joe, signed with his name and number. (8"x12") Here is what the Fighting Irish Football Encyclopedia said about Mr. T:

"One of the top-ranked quarterback of all time for Notre Dame. Senior year ranks among the top individual performances of any era. Had a great arm, quick feet, superb mobility, fine grasp of reading downfield coverages, quick release, supreme confidence, and toughness that belied his slim build.

"He led Notre Dame to it's first bowl appearances since the 1925 Rose Bowl, against Texas in '70 and '71. In the 1971 Cotton Bowl, All-American Joe Thiesmann personally accounted for three scores in the first 16 1/2 minutes en route to a 24-11 victory.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.sportsatt...ismann,Joe1.jpg




In addition to his success as a Notre Dame quarterback, Theismann was also successful in the NFL.




In 1982, Joe Theismann led the Redskins to 27-17 victory over Miami in Super Bowl XVII




In 1983, Theismann led the Redskins to a 14-2 regular season mark. The Redskins lost to the L.A. Raiders, 38-9, in Super Bowl XVIII. That year, Theismann was named the AP's NFL MVP and the AP's Offensive Player of the Year.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.blueandgo...902&TopicArea=1





11/15/2002 7:16:00 AM

WATSON NAMED A FINALIST FOR BUTKUS AWARD (excerpts)

by ND Sports Information





Senior inside linebacker Courtney Watson was named one of three finalists for the 2002 Butkus Award, given to the nation's outstanding linebacker. Watson joins Maryland's E.J. Henderson and Oklahoma's Teddy Lehman as finalists with the winner announced on Dec. 13 at the Butkus Award Gala hosted by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando.

The native of Sarasota, Fla., Watson has had an outstanding season for the Irish in 2002 and has been a integral part of the Irish posting a 9-1 record and achieving a national ranking of ninth in the country. Watson has a team-high 81 tackles in 2002, including 44 solos. He has recorded eight tackles for loss this season and three sacks. He also has three interceptions, including a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown against Stanford in Notre Dame's 31-7 win over the Cardinal.

[Bruce Klein]

GO DAWGS..... Congrats Irish!

[bobdrake12]

A blast from the past...

The month was September, the year was 2002

Notre Dame is trailing Michigan State 17-14

Pat Dillingham, backup quarterback, has replaced injured Carlyle Holiday

The ball is on the Notre Dame 40 yard line

There is 1:15 remaining in the game

Dillingham throws a short slant to Battle and the rest is history!!!




Posted by JimmyInTexas on November 17, 2002 at 02:50:12

UHND Football Board


Hey all. Jack asked me to make him a background and since I put in the time I figured why not share it with the masses. It's in 800 x 600 format. It's obviously a dedication to Battle and the amazing TD he had against Michigan State. The only difference between the two is the writing and graphics switch sides. I hope you all like it. Go Irish!

-Jimmy



Jimmy,

Thanks for your contribution to ND football!!!

bob

[bobdrake12]

Notre Dame is now 10-1 by beating Rutgers

http://www.blueandgo...915&TopicArea=1





11/23/2002 7:39:00 PM

IRISH SHUTOUT RUTGERS

by Denise Skwarcan, BGI Reporter



Shane Walton


NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Rutgers might have thought it still had a chance of overcoming a 14-0 halftime deficit to No. 6-ranked Notre Dame.
But the Irish quickly buried any upset possibilities when they uncorked an offensive blitz early in the third period from which the Scarlet Knights couldn’t recover as Notre Dame marched to a 42-0 victory in its 2002 home finale.

Behind the 13-of-25 passing, 270-yard, four-touchdown effort of quarterback Carlyle Holiday, Notre Dame scored 28 points in an 8:20 span of the third quarter and improved to 10-1 on the season to further solidify its BCS bowl chances.

“I really didn’t say much to them,” commented Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham when asked what he said to his team at halftime. “I think our football team recognized what needed to be done, and they were eager to get it done.”

The 28 points scored in the third quarter were the most ever by an Irish squad in that quarter, and the most points Notre Dame has put on the board overall since a 45-17 victory over Rutgers during the 2000 campaign.

Halfback Ryan Grant, who had a 28-yard TD run and paced the team with 68 yards on 18 carries, became just the seventh running back in Irish history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.

Cornerback Shane Walton hauled down his seventh interception of the season in the second quarter and returned it 45 yards for the score. That’s the most interceptions by an Irish player since Todd Lyght’s eight in 1989, and it tied a Notre Dame single-season record for interceptions for a TD with four, duplicating the number posted by the 1966 squad.

For the Irish it was a push in the right direction following two mediocre games and a bye week. Now it’s Notre Dame vs. USC, two Top 10 teams butting heads with lucrative post-season destinations on the line.

“Getting back on track is always important,” Willingham noted. “Anytime you have a break you want to go into the break with a win and you want to come out of the break with a win, and our guys did that.

“The fact that we added some offense to it makes it impressive because our defense has been extremely consistent all year.”