Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-02
Rockne Always Struggled
To Overcome Any Handicap,
Says DOrais of Old Friend

hopes. First remember wildly his Oft
expressed idea that at the end of his
pharmacy course he would get a good
break so that some day he would be a
druggist with nice little drug store
Of his own.
Evidently he developed a fondness
for chemistry during his first year in
pharmacy, because after that his horizon
broadened bit. He now wanted to be
a professor of chemistry. He there
fore changed his course to pharmaceu-
tical chemistry and achieved this am
billion before graduation, for due to
his excellence In chemistry he was en-
gagged as an instructor. He continued
teaching chemistry for several years
after taking the job as foot ball coach.
Wanted to Be Chemist.
His objective again changed during
his student days and his latest am
bition was to be a chemist. In my
later conversations with him after he
had achieved fame as foot ball coach
formed the idea that he still had a
secret hope that some day he might yet
20 back to that which was at one time
his greatest overwhelmingly.
At no time did ever hear old Rock
voice a desire to be an athletic instruc-
tor. Fate sort of threw him into the
work, for the Summer after his grad
uation he met and married Bonnie
Skiles, from Tiffin, Ohio. He then had
to have something to make ends meet
right away and the assistant coach JOB
offered by Jesse Harper was the solu-
ton.
Rock" as student was the same
forceful character that he was later
on. He went into campus activities
with q vim and was a campus leader.
He was a good singer. played in the
band. the orchestra, on the track, the
foot ball field, a leader in dramatlcs.
In dramatics, his role was that OF a
Negro nanny in one of the plays
which was the hit OF the year.
Had Wonderful Persistence.
What Rock" was not good at he
worked at until he won. He had a
wonderful persistence. I remember his
first talks in public, when he was head
coach and his assistant. He was bad.
He didn't know what to do With his
hands. He was nervous and his words
were hating and anything but fluent.
Now thousands can testify to the
fact that Rock overcame that diff
Guilty as he had many others. In the
last few years I have heard him at
several important functions and he
certainly was fluent and convincing
speaker.
AS q fellow foot ball player, the
thing that impressed me early about
Rock" was the fact that he refused
to accept traditional methods In play
ing the position. The method that he
invented to use on both offense and
defense was the beginning, so far as
I know, Of the intelligent end play OF
today.
In the early days of the pass, at
which we later were to excel, Rock
used to say to me, Gus, I'm supposed
to get away from those defensive backs
by speed. But some of them are
faster than me. I'm going to take in
Jury and break fast when they are
lulled into security, or I'll fake out
and cut in fast, or I'll loaf down and
break fast. I'll tip you of what I'll
do and you whip 1t to me when I break
loose"
Became Fine Grid End.
That, to my knowledge, was the be-
ginning Of smart maneuvering by pass
receivers and the results of his ideas
were shown in our record. We didn't
lose a game during the three years We
played together and the pass to him
played an important role in all these
victories. His ideas on the other phases
Of end play were equally radical, and
the fact that he started as q mediocre
performer and finished his career by