History of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football

History Of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football

American football did not have an auspicious beginning at the University of Notre Dame. In their inaugural game on November 23, 1887 the Irish lost to Michigan by a score of 8–0. Their first win came in the final game of the 1888 season when the Irish defeated Harvard Prep by a score of 20–0. At the end of the 1888 season they had a record of 1–3 with all three losses being at the hands of Michigan by a combined score of 43–9. Between 1887 and 1899 Notre Dame compiled a record of 31 wins, 15 losses, and four ties against a diverse variety of opponents ranging from local high school teams to other universities. At the beginning of the 20th century college football began to increase in popularity and became more standardized with the introduction of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906. That organization would become the NCAA in 1910. Notre Dame continued its success during this time and achieved their first victory over Michigan in 1909 by the score of 11–3 after which Michigan refused to play Notre Dame again for 33 years. By the end of the 1912 season they had amassed a record of 108 wins, 31 losses, and 13 ties.

Jesse Harper became head coach in 1913 and remained so until he retired in 1917. During his tenure the Irish began playing only intercollegiate games and posted a record of 34 wins, 5 losses, and one tie. This period would also mark the beginning of the rivalry with Army and the continuation of rivalries with Michigan State.

In 1913, Notre Dame burst into the national consciousness and helped to transform the collegiate game in a single contest. In an effort to gain respect for a regionally successful but small-time Midwestern football program, Harper scheduled games in his first season with national powerhouses Texas, Penn State, and Army. On November 1, 1913, the Notre Dame squad stunned the Black Knights of the Hudson 35-13 in a game played at West Point. Led by quarterback Charlie "Gus" Dorais and end (soon to be legendary coach) Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame team attacked the Cadets with an offense that featured both the expected powerful running game but also long and accurate downfield forward passes from Dorais to Rockne.

This game has been miscredited as the "invention" of the forward pass but is considered the first major contest in which a team used the forward pass regularly throughout the game. (For example, Homer Woodson Hargiss regularly called the play for quarterback Arthur Schabinger at the College of Emporia as early as 1910.)

Read more about History Of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football:  Rockne Era (1918–1930), After Rockne (1931–1940), Leahy Era (1941–1953), After Leahy (1954–1963), Parseghian Era (Era of Ara)(1964–1974), Devine Era (1975–1980), Faust Era (1981–1985), Willingham Era (2002–2004), Weis Era (2005–2009)

Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, notre, dame, fighting, irish and/or football:

    “Every member of the family of the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother ...”
    —Ruth C. D. Havens, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)

    “Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
    —Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

    “Se bella piu satore, je notre so catore,
    Je notre qui cavore, je la qu’, la qui, la quai!
    Le spinash or le busho, cigaretto toto bello,
    Ce rakish spagoletto, si la tu, la tu, la tua!
    Senora pelefima, voulez-vous le taximeter,
    La zionta sur le tita, tu le tu le tu le wa!”
    —Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977)

    “I have a lot of respect for that dame [Delilah]. There’s one lady barber that made good.”
    —Alexander Hall. Cleo Borden (Mae West)

    “The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf of some clearly seen and deeply felt good, and against some greatly scorned evil.”
    —Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)

    “For every nineteenth-century middle-class family that protected its wife and child within the family circle, there was an Irish or a German girl scrubbing floors in that home, a Welsh boy mining coal to keep the home-baked goodies warm, a black girl doing the family laundry, a black mother and child picking cotton to be made into clothes for the family, and a Jewish or an Italian daughter in a sweatshop making “ladies” dresses or artificial flowers for the family to purchase.”
    —Stephanie Coontz (20th century)

    “In football they measure forty-yard sprints. Nobody runs forty yards in basketball. Maybe you run the ninety-four feet of the court; then you stop, not on a dime, but on Miss Liberty’s torch. In football you run over somebody’s face.”
    —Donald Hall (b. 1928)