The Washington times., 1931-04-11


ficient alright-but there was
1t was simply the outgrowth of
hard work. school spirit, and keen
coaching Judgment. The average
football fan thinks of Notre Dame
teams as oversize, giant-like men
-personifying power and force.
Which is entirely wrong.
Rockne took big men if they
came along-and used them. But
frequently he didn't have them
to work with. And big or not, he
would never sacrifice speed for
sheer poundage. The famous Four
Horsemen champions of 1924 were
not big men-the championship
team of last fall was only of aver
age size and power. During all
his coaching career Knute Rockne
seldom had men as large, as pow
erful, as driving. as the men with
whom he himself played.
Students Grid-Minded
The big secret of football sue
cess at Notre Dame is that the
whole student body is football
minded. Knute Rockne made
them so. Every man who comes
to the campus; every lad who en-
rolled for work at the university
is looked upon as a potential foot
ball candidate. And Rockne never
was interested in names or high
school regulations. They meant
nothing to him whatever. He
probably was the good influence
of hard work that reused Rup-
pert Rifles into a blazing fury
over in Nashville yesterday. They
judged his players on the field
and not until then.
Had he been interested only
in high school regulations,
George Gipp might never have
worn a NOtre Dame uniform;
Johnny MOhardt might have
become a doctor OF medicine
without once having handled a
football, or returned a punt.
Rockne built school spirit. And
kept it at high pitch. It's easy to
cheer a winning team. It isn't
so easy to keep up enthusiasm
for loser-and don't forget
Rockne had his losers. Life wasn't
one continuous round of cham
pionShips. But to the student
body it was all the same. Win or
lose, it was their team-and they
stayed with it. And RDckne ap-
preciated.
And it was this never-say- die
spirit that formed the background
for one of Rocks best stories-a
story that he used to tell with
much relish on every occasion.
The story concerned a janitor, an
old walrus-whiskered fellow named
Adolphus, who never failed to
have his two-bits down on the
team on every game. When Notre
Dame won, Adolphus bought five
cent cigars with his winnings and
smoked them with great gusto.
Returning from a defeat at the
hands of Iowa in 1921, Rockne
delivered a little curtain-lecture
to his boys-telling them that
Iowa had better mental poise,
and that it was that mental poise
which won for them. The young
sters made much of the lecture
and the jinx labeled so aptly,
"Old Man Mental Poise."
"OId Man Mental POise
On reaching the campus they
headed for the gym, and there on
the steps to meet them was an
irate Adolphus.
"FOr why you don't win those
game?" he inquired, angrily.
"Why lose you t h hOse football
game, eh?"
Harry Mehre, center of the
1921 team and a considerable
wag into the bargain, grinned at
the old mans discontinue.
"Old Man Mental POise lost
that game, AdOlphuS," he ex-
planned, Blame it on him. Old
Man Mental POise."
Hugh" the janitOr grunted.
"I knOwed it. That guy never
could play football, anyhow"
It was such quick thinking of
the part of his players that
Rockne loved. And it was a bit
of quick thinking of just that
type which first won him to
Frankie Carideo, who last year
wound up his career as one of
the great quarterbacks Of all
time.
RetOrt Elegant
Rockne thought, dreamed, ate
football. And he wanted his men
to do the same thing. And just
to keep them thinking it was his
habit to shoot questions at them
at unsuspected moments. Run
ming into a quarterback on the
campus some morning his salu-
tation was apt to be something
like this:
"JOe, it's fourth down, goal
to go, score 9 to 6 against
you, and two minutes left to
play. What would you dO?"
And Carideo on such an occa-
sion stopped Rock cold. Frank,
during his first year on the
squad, had been kept closely to
the bench-sitting there wrapped
in a blanket game after game,
watching some other fellow di-
rect the team and do the work.