Reviving the Fighting Irish:
The real significance of the words "Fighting Irish" at Notre Dame
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Revere LaNoue https://www.mascotgallery.com/fightingirish/
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The first half of the 20th century saw the “Fighting Irish” of Notre Dame
become a symbol that masses of Catholics, Irish-Americans, and self-identified
underdogs identified with throughout America. They drew inspiration from the story of the “Fighting
Irish,” and Notre Dame found a place in the hearts of fans nationwide. The 1925 Rose Bowl between Stanford and
Notre Dame played a large part in this process. In anticipation of their trip to the West Coast for the
National Championship, Notre Dame press agents distributed the unique photo of
the “Four Horsemen” to newspapers across the country. Most found room for it on their front pages. It soon became clear to all that the
attention of the nation rested on a single team that was described by its
coach, players, and students as the “Fighting Irish.”
After defeating Stanford 27-10 in the 1925 Rose Bowl, the
National Champion “Fighting Irish” collected “fame and adulation from coast to
coast” as they circled the country on a victory tour that included stops in
Hollywood, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Denver, Lincoln, and
Chicago before returning home (Lim Lefebvre, Loyal Sons). The trip became a public-relations tour
for Notre Dame and for Catholicism, as the coaches and
administrators proudly showed off their team of All-American heroes while
making sure they were seen going to mass and acting as respectable Catholics in
every city they visited. These
tough gentlemen who had risen to the top while maintaining a sense of class and
humility became legendary figures in the eyes of the American public. Administrators were now safe to endorse
the “Fighting Irish” nickname without damaging the university’s image.
Though members of the Notre Dame
community had been using the term “Fighting Irish” consistently since Rockne’s
1924 National Championship season, they did so unofficially until 1928 when
Herbert Bayard Swope, the highly influential editor of the New York World, wrote to
the Notre Dame administration asking for their official position on the
nickname. In response, president of Notre Dame Rev. Matthew Walsh, C.S.C. officially endorsed the use
of the term “Fighting Irish” for the first time. He did so primarily in order to standardize the phrase and
put an end to more derisive terms such as “ramblers” and “nomads” that he
deemed to be incompatible with the university’s values. In the return letter that “permanently
set Notre Dame’s policy,” Fr. Walsh wrote:
“The University authorities are in no
way averse to the name ‘Fighting Irish’ as applied to our athletic teams… It
seems to embody the kind of spirit that we like to see carried into effect by
the various organizations that represent us on the athletic field. I sincerely hope that we may always be
worthy of the ideals embodied in the term ‘Fighting Irish.’”
(Rev. Matthew Walsh, C.S.C. “Reply to Herbert Bayard Swope,” 10/6/28, University of Notre Dame Archives)
(Rev. Matthew Walsh, C.S.C. “Reply to Herbert Bayard Swope,” 10/6/28, University of Notre Dame Archives)
Through this statement, the
derogative connotations with which the term "Fighting Irish" originally arose had been
officially transformed into positive values that Notre Dame men were expected
to take pride in. The term was now
a tribute that glorified the real “Fighting Irish” of the past in Ireland,
America, and at Notre Dame who had achieved prominence not by abandoning their
identity, but by carving out a place for themselves through their tenacious
will to work and matching indomitable spirit.
Reviving the Fighting Irish:
(Vol. II: Part VIII to come Friday, August 17)
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