The history of Notre Dame football goes back more than 130 years, during which time the college has claimed 11 national championships. It’s legendary figures include coaches from Knute Rockne to Lou Holtz, and players like Heisman Trophy winners Paul Hornung and Tim Brown, as well as numerous College Football Hall of Famers such as George Gipp and Joe Theismann.
Fighting Irish Football: The Notre Dame Tradition in Photographs presents a remarkable selection of photos from the university archives. Divided into five sections – Coaches, Players, Fans, Games, and Venues – the book brings together photos that highlight famous moments from Notre Dame football history alongside images chosen for their rarity or photographic excellence, even when details about them are sketchy.
It’s a thorough collection, well-researched and set in context by thoughtful text. With more depth than a typical coffee table book, Fighting Irish Football will be of interest to any college football fan.
Title: Fighting Irish Football
Author: Charles Lamb & Elizabeth Hogan
First published: University of Notre Dame Press, 2024
Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK
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THE AUTHORS
Charles Lamb, who is semi-retired, is the media assistant for Fighting Irish Media and former assistant director and senior archivist for photographic and audio/visual collections at the University of Notre Dame archives.
Elizabeth Hogan is senior archivist for photographs at the University of Notre Dame archives.
EXCERPTS
“For many years, Longman took to walking his pet bulldog Mike around town while the dog sported a jacket that displayed the score of the 1909 Irish victory.”
“The following season, the Irish took on the Houston Cougars in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1979. The game was played in freezing temperatures following a severe ice storm. […] In the locker room at halftime, quarterback Joe Montana was suffering from a case of hypothermia. The prescribed remedy was chicken soup and Montana returned to the field late in the third quarter. Even though the Irish trailed 34-12 well into the fourth quarter, Montana managed to engineer an Irish comeback, tying the score with a pass to wide receiver Kris Haines with two seconds left on the clock. Joe Unis’s successful point kick after gave the Irish a 35-34 victory, and the memorable game has since been dubbed the ‘Chicken Soup Bowl.’”
“… Rockne also hired a dance instructor to help keep the players lighter on their feet. Similarly, when Elmer Layden of the Four Horsemen became head coach, he set the timing of the formation to music with the help of Roy Shields, Musical Director of NBC, who composed ‘The Notre Dame Shift March.’”
“When college football games gained popularity on the radio, Notre Dame’s approach to the new medium was unlike most other schools. The university decided to let any station, and eventually any television network, broadcast Irish games, without any exclusive contracts or licenses. Along with allowing nonexclusive coverage, Notre Dame also had a policy of not charging any fees to the stations or networks. These strategies were intended to raise Notre Dame’s profile nationwide.”
“Notre Dame’s oldest rival is the Michigan Wolverines, not only because Michigan was Notre Dame’s first intercollegiate opponent, but also because of the animosity between Michigan’s Fielding Yost and Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne. Like much of America at the time, Coach Yost was anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant, two large demographics represented at Notre Dame in the early twentieth century. Yost worked hard to block Notre Dame from joining the Big Ten and the relationship soured. Ironically, by keeping Notre Dame out of the Big Ten, the Irish were forced to look for opponents outside of the Midwest. This fostered Notre Dame’s nationwide fan base, something few programs could boast, and led to Notre Dame football being independent from the bonds of any conference.”
REVIEWS
Fighting Irish Football is an excellent collection of photographs that will delight college football fans and Notre Dame fans in particular. It’s elevated above the average coffee table book by insightful writing that discusses the photographic techniques used to create certain images as well as how they have been preserved. There is also plenty of historical context and interesting trivia so that non-experts will understand the significance of the photos.
Shane Richmond, Pigskin Books
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