Hey. I'm a newcomer here. I hope it's ok if I jump in and post. I am very ignorant about the program but I have a kid coming in as an undergraduate in the fall and so I'm joining the ND fan community. But starting from near zero, one of the things I need to do is educate myself about the history of the program. Amazon shows a number of books on ND football but I was wondering if there is any that is widely considered the best. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Get the 2018 media guide for $25, free shipping. Brand new. And/or PM me your address and I’ll give you the 2013 edition. Welcome to our ND football addiction group
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Haven't bought one in years,(my most recent copy is 2013) but is has EVERYTHING. Season capsules, recaps of every game ever played, records vs various conferences and individual teams, history, profiles on every head coach we've had, player profiles, stats, stats, etc. Well worth the $, which used to be not that much.
Wait, this is it, right? (I hope links are allowed to be posted.)
https://s3.amazonaws.com/und.com/documents/2018/8/27/Full_Guide.pdf
Those look excellent. They have some of the older ones on line. I’m going to look around for a current one.
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Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football – by Murray Sperber
Sperber...tackles the details, great and small, unearthing a treasure." ―New York Times Book Review
Shake Down the Thunder traces the history of the Notre Dame football program―which has acquired almost mythical proportions―from its humble origins in the 19th century to its status as the paragon of college sports. It presents the true story of the program's formative years, the reality behind the myths. Both social history and sports history, this book documents as never before the first half-century of Notre Dame football and relates it to the rise of big-time intercollegiate athletics, the college sports reform movement, and the corrupt sporting press of the period. Shake Down the Thunder is must reading for all Fighting Irish fans, their detractors, and any reader engaged by American cultural history.
Link: Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football
I’ve order it! Thanks for your help.
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Thanks guys. Really appreciate the information and the welcome.
The recommended books are a good place to start along with watching the uncut version of Knute Rockne ... particularly the funeral scene as that part of campus still looks similar (preserving history, which ND does pretty well despite a massively expanded campus)
The "something" I learned as a student following the program up close 61-66 ... talked to a lot of old timers (many subway alumni) and to paraphrase a friend: "there is a lot we have seen that isn't in any current history and its likely that all the written histories are like that."
Some of those old time fans had a lot of interesting perspectives about why various coaches were hired or "fired" (not everyone got a public termination like Terry Brennan's christmas "present."
As you see from those books the ND football program is not so much about winning (but a driver for sure) as it is about producing revenue for the ND general fund and the image ND wants to project (kind of pre and post Fr H becoming President). This is an oversimplification of the image perspective but should be kept in mind when reading his excellent book - we moved to "academic excellence" as a mantra (no more PE major - not in most histories BTW) and started fund raising to build what has become a large endowment to improve academics (the change in the no bowl policy was seen as driven by this effort)
There are a lot of interesting stories and hopefully you and your child will enjoy them as a base for your interest in ND and its sports program going forward (BTW the most successful sport by record is fencing). For me has been a good experience starting with radio of the games and an hour long highlight show that was replaced by Ed Sullivan and included being at ground zero for the start of Era of Ara.
The SB library has had what is like a permanent display covering mostly the history of ND football (presume it is still there) ... worthwhile once you have a sense of the narrative history ... maybe next Spring at the end of the school year or if you get to the Spring game (worth seeing at least once)
Again once you have the big picture might want to take this on as a "research project" as it is the reality of "what thou the odds be great or small" ...
There were 2 weeks in 1956 that constitute (personal opinion) the lowest point of ND football history. We played at home the #1 and 2 teams in the context that whichever one beat us worse on national tv would almost certainly be #1 at the end of the season (turned out that the team in game one got upset the next week) - Sports Illustrated is probably the easiest to check out.
-The Michigan State game had the most emotional crowd I'd ever seen and played out a lot like what happened to the Spartan 300 and probably earned Paul Hornung his Heisman. It took until 1964 to avenge that defeat.
-Game 2 set the stage for probably the greatest moment (to the public) in ND FB history. Oklahoma pulverized us ("no mercy"). In 1957 they were rolling along as #1 as we lost to MSU setting the stage for the SI Jinx and an amazing upset. Can read the lead SI article going into the game (something like a 10 page spread detailing why the Sooners were unbeatable) and read about what happened (think the game highlights are on YouTube). Can remember my HS football game ending when someone shouted ND was on the move in the waning minutes ... watched the scoring play with about 70 people of all ages crammed together like the clowns in a car
Did this as a student in library (that was the signature building of the Hesburgh Era - took no time at all to "recognize" Touchdown Jesus and No 1 Moses (although there was no immediate hope that would actually happen) using hard copy archives.
Good luck on your quest
Thanks again, Dinglewood. Really appreciate all this.
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Congrats to you on your child's upcoming enrollment.
These three books will give you a solid foundation:
'Shake Down The Thunder', by Murray Sperber. Simply the best source of information on the formation of that which is Notre Dame football.
'God, Country, Notre Dame', by Rev Theodore Hesburgh. Fr Hesburgh's autobiography. Obviously more than football but a must read for any newcomer to the ND community.
'Wins, Losses and Lessons', by Lou Holtz. Covers Holtz's entire career. No one conveys the passion for ND better than Lou.
Thanks very much. These are great. Ordered.