Rockne of Notre Dame The Making of a Football Legend

by Robinson, Ray

• ISBN13: 9780195157925
• ISBN10: 0195157923
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In a mere twelve years, Rockne's "Fighting Irish" won 105 games, including five astonishing undefeated seasons. But Rockne was more than the sum of his victories--he was an icon who, more than anyone, made football an American obsession. The book gives us colorful descriptions of such Rockne teams as the undefeated 1924 eleven led by the illustrious Four Horsemen, and the 1930 squad, Rockne's last and greatest. A renowned motivator whose "Win one for the Gipper" is the most famous locker-room speech ever, Rockne was also football's most brilliant innovator, a pioneer of the forward pass, a master of the psychological ploy, and an early advocate of conditioning. In this balanced account, Rockne emerges as an exemplary and complex figure: a fierce competitor who was generous in victory and defeat; an inspiring father figure to his players; and a man so revered nationwide that when he died in a plane crash in 1931, at the height of his career, he was mourned by the entire country. "A solid portrait of one of football's most solid figures."-- The New York Times Book Review

Author Biography

Ray Robinson is a noted sports writer and magazine editor whose previous books include "Oh, Baby, I Love It" (which he wrote with Tim McCarver); Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time; Matty, An American Hero, Yankee Stadium: 75 Years of Drama, Glamour, and Glory and Pennants and Pinstripes: A History of the New York Yankees. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	3	(6)
In the Land of Fjords	9	(8)
Boyhood Heroes	17	(6)
Notre Dame	23	(6)
Knute Suits Up	29	(10)
On the Wings of the Forward Pass	39	(10)
A Man Must Coach	49	(20)
The Legend of George Gipp	69	(10)
An Athlete Dying Young	79	(16)
The Ku Klux Klan on the March	95	(6)
Life After Gipp	101	(16)
The Ride of the Four Horsemen	117	(12)
Charges and Countercharges	129	(16)
On a Blue-Gray October Afternoon	145	(12)
The Smell of Roses	157	(10)
After the Four Horsemen	167	(12)
The Coach Plays Hooky	179	(10)
Ten Years at the Helm	189	(12)
Twelfth Man	201	(18)
On the Rebound	219	(16)
The Last Season	235	(22)
Final Flight	257	(18)
Index	275