Great reminder Pat. My father ran track under KK Rockne for three years & lettered three times at ND. They traveled all over America because of Rock's influence. Drake Relays, Texas, Penn, San Jac. Heady days for a young kid from NJ.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 11:33 am | #

I suppose I should know from the recent postings about Easter Heathman after his death, but did ND ever do anything for him...like invite him to the campus or give him some sort of official thanks?
Jim '72 | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 3:24 pm | #

Blue Gray Sky; Two posts. That's pathetic! You get a thousand for criticism of Latina, what a joke.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 8:25 pm | #

Easter visited Notre Dame at least twice and I seem to recall he was given a monogram or some similar honor on one of those visits.
Here is a link to a cool story, originaly published in ND magazine, summer of 1999 in case the link doesn't work.

http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/kansas99.htm
DuffMan | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 8:46 pm | #

Jim,

Maybe some of us are tiring of others' nonsensical ramblings and the repetitive, off-topic, and self-congratulatory back-slapping and braggadocio that seems to now dominate these boards.

Duffman,

Thanks for the link.
DCDomer | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 9:17 pm | #

To pick up on what 'young' Mr. Masterson menioned above, Rockne's genius extended far beyond the gridiron. Yes, he was a chemist first, but his imagination is what created Notre Dame's legend. It wasn't just winning games, it wasn't just how he won them but WHERE he won them. Everywhere. New York. California. Georgia. Maryland. Texas. It was as if he was writing the story of Notre Dame, knowing the unknowable. Knowing how it was going to end before it happened. Rockne was a master showman and he had an intuitive feel for what was still only the potential of America's greatness. He took his team everywhere and he won everywhere. Notre Dame became as much a storied part of America's growing up as Wyatt Earp and Davy Crockett, only people were there to write it down as it happened. Rockne could balance equations, create football flamboyance, sell Studebakers, and construct Notre Dame. He was as important a character in his time as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Al Jolson, or Thomas Edison.
DuffMan | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 9:19 pm | #

How strange how Mr. Heathman's life became largely defined by the tragedy of the plane crash.

I see Jim Masterson's point. Some time ago, when Pete Demerle died, far too young, BGS ran a very touching tribute to him here. I thought it remarkable just how few comments it inspired, maybe six or seven, while any post about what's going on in the weight room, for example, was sure to draw hundreds.

I guess that's the nature of sports spectatorship. Especially college sports. Thank you, legend, now go away because I have to devote most of my waking life to thinking about the new #84.

Regardless, anyone who loves Notre Dame football as much as we all do here is paying tribute to Knute Rockne's legacy whether he knows it or not, and I'd like to thank Mr. Heathman and his family for all they did in memorializing that legend's sad earthly end.

And thank God for Peter Demerle, too.

"I don't know how that Demerle does it, but he does it."
Howard Cossell, broadcast of 1973 Sugar Bowl, ABC Sports. (courtesy YouTube)
Joe Subway | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 10:12 pm | #

That should be Pete Demmerle, with two m's.
1953-2007.
Joe Subway | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 10:16 pm | #

I remember that either my grandfather or my dad took my brother and me to the Rockne Communion Breakfasts every year when I was in grade school.
GB | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 10:41 pm | #

I hope the Alumni Association proposes a small monument to honor Easter right next to Rockne's. That would be fitting.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 10:48 pm | #

DuffMan is right about the cultural importance of Rockne. If there was a sports version of Mount Rushmore, Rockne would certainly warrant strong consideration. My version would include Rockne, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, and Jack Dempsey. All were icons in the 1920's, and transcended sport into the mainstream consciousness of all Americans. Their respective exploits and super heroics inspired millions at a time where newspapers and fledgling radio were the primary instruments of diseminating information.
R.I.P, Rock, and Easter, too.
Voice in the Wilderness | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 11:14 pm | #

Thanks for reminder about 77. My wife and I live in Wichita, and by chance, we had scheduled a business trip to Topeka and back today.

We drove the Kansas Turnpike through the Flint Hills, and I was thinking about the crash when we were in an area not that distant from the site. While it wasn't cold today as it was that day 77 years ago, it was rainy and stormy.

It was wonderful that the Notre Dame Family recognized Mr. Heathman while he was alive.

Thank you Pat.
Ted Eberle | Email | Homepage | 03.31.08 - 11:21 pm | #

Blue and Gold posted a reprint from a few years ago at 3pm. Thanks Pat for Ted Eberle, if he was a member of B&G he would have been unaware of the significance of 3-31-31.
DC domer; It's not bragging if it's done.
Does one talk of the legacy of UND w/o mentioning Fathers Sorin,Cavanaugh, Hesburgh & Joyce, & now Father Jenkins.
As Duff said, Rockne literally put them on the map from coast to coast. Thank you's to the responses by Andy, VIW, GB, Ted E, Duff, Joe Sub & Jim'72
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 04.01.08 - 12:05 am | #

I'm curious about how Finbar is doing in spring practice and if we will be having any scheduling worthy of the Mt. Union addition we were pleasantly surprised to see last season.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 04.01.08 - 8:46 am | #

Notice the above post already has as many vomments. IMO posting a comment isn't the only appropriate response to this. I read it and said a prayer for him. The comment section is for discussing football. I figure BGS posts stuff like this to remember what has happened, not to evoke discussion. Whereas the above post is probably geared more toward a response.

Mr.Heathman, may the road rise to meet you...
bcnd | Email | Homepage | 04.01.08 - 2:07 pm | #

I don't believe silence indicates apathy in this instance. Our means of honoring and remembering someone important to us are unique. IMO, the way we best honor Rock's memory (aside from Voice's Mt. Rushmore!) is to never, ever let our program slide into irrelevancy - something the haters love to intimate and live to see the day. I confess to feeling a little melancholy when I read about our past, then come back to the present.
OC mj | Email | Homepage | 04.01.08 - 3:48 pm | #

I agree with OCMJ. It was Rockne more than anyone who put ND on the map. If he had remained a chemistry instructor and not coached football, ND would be just another beautiful small catholic university that no one ever heard of and has great academics. The administration at the university owes it to Rockne's legacy to never allow ND to fall from the heights to which he led the program. Rockne not only made ND what it is today, but he was the first and best ambassador for collegiate football and made it a national sport and not a regional sport. ND needs to always recognize its importance to college football and know that college football is better when ND is among the elite programs. We should never relax the expectations of our student-athletes and we should never ever again de-emphasize the fact that we hold a lofty position in collegiate football history and only with us maintaining a lofty status is everything right with the game. We should be the program that everyone chases and tries to emulate, both on the field and in the classroom.
Doug | Email | Homepage | 04.01.08 - 4:22 pm | #