Shake Down the Thunder

by Sperber, Murray A.

• ISBN13: 9780253215680
• ISBN10: 0253215684
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

"Sperber...tackles the details, great and small, unearthing a treasure." -- New York Times Book ReviewShake 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.

Author Biography

Murray Sperber is Professor of English and American Studies at Indiana University.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Indiana Edition

Acknowledgments

Introduction

"What Though the Odds Be Great or Small": 1789-1918

L'Universite de Notre Dame du Lac and the Nineteenth Century

The Origins of Notre Dame's Athletic Culture

Catholic versus American Higher Education

The Origin of "The Notre Dame Victory March"

Notre Dame Sports: 1900-1912

Jesse Harper: 1913 and the First Army Game

Jesse Harper: 1914 and the Finances of College Football

Jesse Harper: 1915-1917 and the Job of Athletic Director

Jesse Harper's Assistant: Knute Rockne

Shaking Down the Thunder: 1918-1931

Catholic versus American Higher Education in the 1920s

The Growth of the Athletic Culture

The Origin of the Fighting Irish Nickname

Rockne at Ground Zero: 1918-191914. Rockne's Rocket-First Version: 1920

George Gipp's Five Seasons at Notre Dame

The Rocker Crashes-Rockne's Miraculous Escape: 1921

Building a Better Rocket: 1922

On the Launch Pad: 1923

Notre Dame versus Klandiana: 1924

Blast-off: 1924

The Four Horsemen-Grantland Rice versus Reality

Rockne Threatens to Jump Ship: 1925

Anti-aircraft Fire from the Big Ten: 1926

Knute K. Rockne Inc.

Anti-aircraft Fire from College Sports Reformers: 1927

Al Smith and "Win One for the Gipper": 1928

Rockne Attacks the College Sports Reformers: 1929

Rockne's Last and Greatest Rocket: 1930

The Death of Reform and Rockne: 1931

"Rally Sons of Notre Dame": 1932-1941

In the Depression: 1931-1941

After Rockne

The Demand for Perfection: 1932

The Removal of a Vice President and the First Firing of a Notre Dame Head Coach: 1933

O'Hara and Layden Assume Power: 1934-1936

O'Hara and Layden in Power: 1937-1939

Beginning Knute Rockne-All American: 1939

Filming Knute Rockne-All American: 1940

The End of the Rockne Era: 1940

The End of the Creation of Notre Dame Football: 1941

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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