Reviving the Fighting Irish:
The real significance of the words "Fighting Irish" at Notre Dame
They travelled far
from home as unknown underdogs, determined to make a name for
themselves, which they did by taking on incredible odds as they
challenged and unseated the privileged elite.... This same storyline describes both the Irish-American
community and the Notre Dame football team of the early 20th century.
During the first two decades after the turn of the century, the
words “Fighting Irish” paid tribute to the resilience displayed by the
Irish-American community as well as the matching grit of Coach Knute Rockne’s
football teams. The First World
War had ended three weeks before Rockne finished his
first year as the head coach at Notre Dame. In the years to come, he would put his Alma Mater on the map
as America turned to college athletics like never before and the resurging sports world became enraptured by Notre Dame Football.
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| Rockne & Clashmore Mike |
Rockne's teams would be crowned as Western Champions twice in 1919 and 1920,
then National Champions three more times in 1924, 1929, and 1930. By guiding
his dominant squads through these successful campaigns, he set “a standard of excellence
which brought unprecedented fame, wealth, and the allegiance of millions to his
school.”
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| 1919 Western Champions |
Timothy P. Galvin, Notre Dame graduate and editor of the student publication Dome in 1916, chronicled the rise of Notre Dame Football in an article titled “Cheering for Old Notre Dame” which appeared in The Notre Dame Alumnus in 1932. According to Galvin, Notre Dame’s first victory over Michigan in 1909 signified the beginning of a “long, upward struggle on the part of our Alma Mater…” because from that point onward the football team “began to look for new worlds to conquer…” This quest culminated in 1913 when the obscure Notre Dame team travelled to New York City and upset the unbeatable Black Knights of Army 35-13 in Yankee Stadium. Rockne captained that Notre Dame team, which “in one afternoon… smashed and passed its way into the exclusive circles of the effete East.” The victory brought unprecedented recognition to Notre Dame, and working class Catholics from New York to Chicago instantly began to identify with the underdogs who had become new contenders on the national scene.
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| Clashmore Mike refuses to back down in Yankee Stadium |
By the time Rockne took over as the head coach of his alma mater, “… the football world, so long half hostile, half incredulous, yielded to Notre Dame its just measure of recognition.”
As Rockne brought victory after victory to Notre Dame, his seemingly
overmatched teams literally stole the spotlight away from the leading Eastern
powerhouses of the time Army, Navy and Princeton, which up until that point had
controlled college football. As
illustrated by Galvin, the manner by which Notre Dame teams accomplished this
feat was just as remarkable as the feat itself:
“With
a small student body from which to draw players, with inadequate equipment and
finance, in spite of lack of home support, without a real football field, with
a staff of coaches that was scanty in number, playing all big games on foreign
soil, Notre Dame struggled on, never complaining, never quitting, until those
who long had scoffed were forced to cheer.”
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| Captain Knute Rockne |
Reviving the Fighting Irish:
(Vol. II: Part V to come Tuesday, August 14)
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