South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-04-28
BY Chas. w. Call.


announced summer session which
will be held at the University of
Notre Dame. Coach Knute *.
ROckne, and recently appointed ath-
IetiC director to succeed Jesse c.
Harper, will conduct special
school for coaches and physical di-
rectOrs extending over a period OF
six weeks commencing June %. All
the major intercollegiate sports
football, baseball, track and basket
ball-will be on the program, VIII CHI
has been carefully arranged by
/ Coach Rockne Physical culture
and the care of minor injuries will
also come i'm for a good deal OF at
tention in the course of instruction.
Fundamentals of the various
sports will be gone into carefully.
Rockne is a firm believer in the ne
cessity of mastering the rudiments
of a sport. He spent two months
this spring drilling candidates for
his football team next fall in the
mere fundamentals of the gridiron
game. This was because he figures
ne will not be able TO give so much
attention to the elementary parts of
| the game once the season gets under
way in September.
Teach All Branches.
! Football, being the most popular
student sport. will come in for the
most attention. Track also will Oc-
cupy a large part Of the time of in
struction, while basket ball and
I -, no
Rockne is we'll qualified TO act ae
an instructor in the classes that will
be taught in summer school. With
out a doubt he is one of the great
est athletes who has graduated of
late years from the gold and blue
institution. He came to NOtre Dame
in the fall Of 1910. II was not until
the years Of 1912 and 1913 that he
gained a national reputation. He
was captain of the famous 1913
football team that swept everything
before it from the Hudson TO the
Rio Grande.
That was the year that NOtre
Dame threw a bombshell into the
intercollegiate athletic world by go
ing down TO West Point and defeat
ing the strong Army eleven, IS to
la the worst defeat the officers
ever experienced.
Besides being a football player of
renown. Coach Rockne was also a
stellar trackman in his days Of COM
petition He was a good quarter
miller. a fine shot putter. and
broad jumper. but it was in pole
vaulting that he excelled. On
numerous occasions he vaulted over
the bar placed at - feet. then as
now a creditable performance for
a college athlete. Once he made
a mark OF y feet 4 inches. which
still stands as an A. A. L. record.
Rockne i'm Demand.
Immediately upon his graduation
from Notre Dame in the spring OF
1914 ROckne received numerous Of
fers Of coaching positions through
out the country. He liked Notre
Dame so we'll however. that when
Coach Harper extended him the po-
sition as assistant coach at his alma
mater he quickly accepted. RCckne
has been an unqualified success as
a coach since his graduation. II ar
per has consistently looked 70
Rockne 10 have the different teams
at NOtre Dame in fighting trim
1 Rockne has never failed him.
on the football field Rockne h; 5
proved an invaluable man at NOtre
Dame For the most part he has
coached the line. and il is re-
markable fact that no forward wall
representing Notre Dame in the
last four years has ever met its
equal ROckne has always been an
inspiration TO his athletes He IL
an optimist Of the fighting sort. and
his ability 20 maintain the best OF
morale in his squads over a long
season is almost uncanny.
In coaching track athletes Rockne
has been no less success than he
mas been in football. Notre Dame
had no track team 10 speak Of
when Rockne took charge OF the
team the year OF his graduation.
He gradually built up an aggrega-
ton OF cinder path performers that
could hold its own with any college
team IN the country. Last year he
had one OF the best track teams in
the history OF Notre Dame athletics
Though the war has tom that team
apart. Rockne nevertheless sue
ceeded in putting in the field a good
wartime squad this year. The ia
nous relay teams OF a year ago
stamped Rockne throughout the
country as one OF the greatest
trainers o. distance men the ath-
letic world has ever seen Rockne
is a psychologist as a track trainer.