Notre Dame 27, Army 3
.. and .. after a good while we begin to catch up ...
The Notre Dame / Army game returned to its most famous venue, Yankee Stadium, last Saturday, becoming the first football game in the new Yankee Stadium. New York City was the site of the October 18, 1924 game from which came some of the most famous lines in sports journalism history as Grantland Rive penned:
"Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again.
"In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below."
New York was also the scene of the 1946 game, considered one of the classic games of the century. From Wikipedia:
The 1946 Army vs. Notre Dame football game was a regular season college football game played on November 9, 1946. Army (the football program of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York), then ranked Number 1 in the Associated Press college football poll, played the University of Notre Dame, of South Bend, Indiana, ranked Number 2, at Yankee Stadium in New York City.[1] This game is regarded as one of the 20th century Games of the Century.[2]
That game ended in a 0-0 tie; the tie saved by a touchdown saving tackle made by 1947 Heisman Trophy winner Notre Dame's Johnny Lujack on 1945 Heisman winner Felix "Doc" Blanchard (Lujack, an All-American Quarterback and a later star with the Chicago Bears, was also an outstanding defensive back). Two other Heisman winners played in the game -- 1945 Winner Army's Glenn Davis and 1948 Notre Dame wunner Leon Hart.
New York City has long been the home of the famous "Subway Alumni", a term applied to the great following that Notre Dame has is the city, initially die to the large concentration of Irish and Irish-Americans in NYC, and, as such, the hoopla around the games took precedence over the game itself (as long as Notre Dame won). On the day before the game, there was a a marching band concert in Times Square followed by a pep rally staged at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. At the game itself, Lujack and Army's 1948 Heisman winner (and Rhodes Scholar) Peter Dawkins were the honorary captains for the coin toss and the band play and the marching was spectacular.
I grew up as a Johnny Lujack and Notre Dame fan and this weekend brought me back to those, reminding me that even when Columbia (1934 Rose Bowl Winner), Fordham ("Seven Blocks of Granite") and NYU (All American and later NFL and AAC star Ken Strong) had quality programs, Notre Dame had the biggest college football fan base in New York -- and it still does!
The Notre Dame / Army game returned to its most famous venue, Yankee Stadium, last Saturday, becoming the first football game in the new Yankee Stadium. New York City was the site of the October 18, 1924 game from which came some of the most famous lines in sports journalism history as Grantland Rive penned:
"Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again.
"In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below."
New York was also the scene of the 1946 game, considered one of the classic games of the century. From Wikipedia:
The 1946 Army vs. Notre Dame football game was a regular season college football game played on November 9, 1946. Army (the football program of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York), then ranked Number 1 in the Associated Press college football poll, played the University of Notre Dame, of South Bend, Indiana, ranked Number 2, at Yankee Stadium in New York City.[1] This game is regarded as one of the 20th century Games of the Century.[2]
That game ended in a 0-0 tie; the tie saved by a touchdown saving tackle made by 1947 Heisman Trophy winner Notre Dame's Johnny Lujack on 1945 Heisman winner Felix "Doc" Blanchard (Lujack, an All-American Quarterback and a later star with the Chicago Bears, was also an outstanding defensive back). Two other Heisman winners played in the game -- 1945 Winner Army's Glenn Davis and 1948 Notre Dame wunner Leon Hart.
New York City has long been the home of the famous "Subway Alumni", a term applied to the great following that Notre Dame has is the city, initially die to the large concentration of Irish and Irish-Americans in NYC, and, as such, the hoopla around the games took precedence over the game itself (as long as Notre Dame won). On the day before the game, there was a a marching band concert in Times Square followed by a pep rally staged at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. At the game itself, Lujack and Army's 1948 Heisman winner (and Rhodes Scholar) Peter Dawkins were the honorary captains for the coin toss and the band play and the marching was spectacular.
I grew up as a Johnny Lujack and Notre Dame fan and this weekend brought me back to those, reminding me that even when Columbia (1934 Rose Bowl Winner), Fordham ("Seven Blocks of Granite") and NYU (All American and later NFL and AAC star Ken Strong) had quality programs, Notre Dame had the biggest college football fan base in New York -- and it still does!
posted by johnmac at
3:36 PM
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