Author: Notre Dame Archives

Frank C. Walker

Frank C. Walker entered the Notre Dame Law School in 1906 and began an affiliation with the school which lasted throughout his life. He graduated in 1909 and later served on the University’s Board of Lay Trustees, worked for the Notre Dame Foundation, and was a member of the Notre Dame Club of New York. He was given an honorary degree in 1934 and the University’s Laetare Medal in 1948.

He supported Franklin D. Roosevelt’s campaigns for governor in 1928 and the presidency in 1932. During the 1932 campaign he served as Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. President Roosevelt appointed him executive secretary of his President’s Executive Council in 1933, and he subsequently acted as executive director of the National Emergency Council.

Post Master General Frank C. Walker, Notre Dame Law School Class of 1909, and Miss Helen Richards of Hazelton, Pennsylvania (PA) work the USO-NCCS overseas Christmas Mailing Booth, National Catholic Community Service, Washington, D.C., c1943

In 1940 he was appointed to succeed Jim Farley as Postmaster General of the United States, in which position he served until 1945. In 1946 he was appointed by President Truman as alternate delegate to the first United Nations General Assembly session in London. He returned to his business interests in N.Y. as director of W. R. Grace & Co. and the Grace National Bank of New York.

The Papers of Frank C. Walker document his life from his early days in Butte, Montana to his tenure as Postmaster General during World War II. Walker’s career in national politics was the result of his long friendship with Franklin Roosevelt. Much of the collection consists of office files from his service in the Roosevelt administrations, first as head of the Executive Council and the National Emergency Council and then as Postmaster General. It was also at Roosevelt’s behest that Walker served as Democratic Party treasurer and chairman of the Democratic National Committee. It was loyalty to Roosevelt, rather than personal ambition, that kept Walker in public service.

A full page from a Frank Walker scrapbook, c1933

Most of Walker’s papers are from the positions he held within the New Deal and the Democratic Party. The Roosevelt campaigns, the formulation of New Deal programs, the selection of Harry Truman as vice-president in 1944, and other political events of the 1930s and 1940s are all discussed in Walker’s Papers and have been of most interest to historians. But the collection also documents Walker’s early career as a lawyer in Butte, his work as general counsel and president of his family’s theatre business, and his personal interests in the University of Notre Dame and Catholic charities. These parts of his life are not represented by the extensive office files that document his days in public service, but it is clear from the Walker papers that his life included much more than politics and government service.

A good source for information on all aspects of Walker’s life are the memoirs he worked on during his retirement but never completed. The transcripts, drafts, and notes that he produced as part of the project fill in many of the gaps in his papers. This is particularly true of his college days, the time he spent as a trial lawyer in Butte, and his work with the Comerford theater business. His recollections of Roosevelt, New Deal programs and personalities, and the politics of the period offer a personal point of view that is missing from the more public office files he accumulated. The memoirs tell us much about Walker, who despite his many years in public life was still a very private man.

A full page from a Frank Walker scrapbook with newspaper clippings regarding his Laetare Medal, installation of Archbishop Spellman, and United States delegates at the UNO Assembly, c1939-1949

Frank C. Walker donated his papers to the Archives of the University of Notre Dame in 1948, although the entire collection was not transferred at that time. After his death in 1959 the Walker family gave additional material to complete the donation. Walker’s books, photographs, and record albums have been taken from his papers to form separate collections, each with its own finding aid. His books cover a wide variety of topics, although politics and the New Deal dominate. The photographs are largely from his tenure in government service, particularly with the Post Office; they include portraits of Walker with many of the political figures of the 1930s and 1940s. The record albums that came with the Walker Papers include a few of his speeches. In 1990 an oral history was conducted with Thomas J. Walker and Laura Walker Jenkins, Frank Walker’s son and daughter. The transcript and tapes from this interview are also available.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a celebration of the harvest, so food naturally takes center stage on this day.  Enjoy these menus of Thanksgiving Day feasts from years ago.

Thanksgiving Day Menu for the Oliver Hotel, South Bend, Indiana, 11/29/1906

 

Football has long been associated with Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving Day Menu for the Congress Hotel Company, Chicago, banquet after the
University of Chicago vs. the University of Michigan football game, 1905

The Dining Halls always prepare a special meal for Thanksgiving:

Notre Dame Dining Hall Thanksgiving Day Menu, 11/23/1939

Sources:
PNDP 30-Me-02
CEDW 22/02

Notre Dame vs. Syracuse, 11/18/1961

Notre Dame football has sometimes been controversial, and the 1961 game against Syracuse was no exception.  When the defense commits a penalty, the offense is usually compensated with a replay of downs and/or gained yardage.  However, before this game, the rules were murky regarding how to handle a defensive penalty when time had expired.  In the case of the 1961 Syracuse game, this meant the difference between a win and a loss that wouldn’t be resolved for months afterward.

A page from the Joe Ceryak Scrapbook with newspaper clippings regarding the controversy of the replayed field goal attempt in the ND vs. Syracuse football game, 1961

Trailing 14-15 with only a few seconds left on the clock, Notre Dame sent in kicker Joe Perkowski to attempt a 56-yard field goal.  He missed soundly as time expired, but there were flags on the field.  Syracuse player Walt Sweeney was called for roughing the kicker, a penalty that carried a charge of fifteen yards.  The gained yardage would put Perkowski in better position, although it would not be easy.  Since time had expired on the previous play, it wasn’t obvious Perkowski would even get a second attempt.  The Syracuse fans had already started to rush the field to celebrate their victory.

Football Game Scene – ND vs. Syracuse, 1961/1118.  Syracuse player Walt Sweeny (#89) was charged with roughing ND kicker Joe Perkowski (#38) and place holder George Sefcik (#22) as time expired in the game.  Perkowski missed the 56-yard field goal, but was awarded a second chance because of the penalty.

The officials had to make an on-the-spot decision about how to handle the foul, and they decided to enforce the standard penalty for roughing the kicker.  Even though time had expired, Notre Dame kicker Joe Perkowski was given fifteen yards and a second attempt, and he kicked the game-winning, 41-yard field goal.

Football Game Scene – ND vs. Syracuse, 1961/1118.  Kicker Joe Perkowski (#38) kicking a second attempt field goal and George Sefcik (#22) holding the ball with no time left on the clock.  Perkowski made the 41-yard field goal to win the game 17-15.

As can be imagined, not everyone was happy with this impromptu decision.  The legality of the extra play was shortly afterwards contested by the Big 10 and Eastern College Athletic Conferences, who supplied the officials for the game, and the NCAA rules chairman General Bob Neyland.  Review of the game film and the rules books led many to question the referees’ decisions.  Did Walt Sweeney really rough the kicker and place holder?  Since the initial kick was far from its target, which team actually had possession when the foul occur?  In the end, neither the conferences nor the NCAA had the power to overturn the Irish win, leaving the game officials with the final say and the Irish with a win for the record books.  The rules were changed in 1962 to prevent any future confusion should a similar circumstance arise.

Sources:
Scholastic Football Review, 1961
Joe Ceryak Scrapbook, 1961
“Irish Reject Illegal Victory Ruling:  Ask Again for Judgment by Full NCAA Committee,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 1961/1129
“Irish-Syracuse Debate May Cause Rule Change for 1962 Grid Season,”  Chicago Daily Defender, 1961/1220
“NCAA Rejects Irish Proposal on Officiating,” The Washington Post, Times Herald, 1962/0114
GPHR 45/8420

Vetville

Like many other American universities in the late 1940s, Notre Dame saw an influx of a new type of student:  a World War II veteran on a G.I. Bill with a wife and possibly children.  Since Notre Dame did not have married student housing at the time and alternate housing in South Bend was scarce, “Vetville” was created to fill this need.  Vetville opened in the Fall of 1946, housed 117 families, and occupied areas of Mod Quad along Bulla and Juniper Roads.  Each building consisted of three two-bedroom apartments with a kitchen and bathroom and was constructed of “thirty-nine prisoner-of-war barracks [from] a military camps in Weingarten, Missouri” [Schlereth, page 191].

Cover of the Scholastic issue 10/08/1948.
Caption: “With a bow to the Vet Gazette’s Tracey Cummings from whom Scholastic stole the idea for this week’s cover, we present a problem which plagues Diaperville each time the team plays ball in the stadium. Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Perrin and recalcitrant Junior, roped securely to the old homestead, typify the difficulties of going anywhere sans offspring. Junior, never fear, will exact his pound of flesh by an orgy of mural-painting on the living room wall during his parents’ absence.”

Vetville was its own village, with six wards, council representatives, and a mayor “who was charged to negotiate with the University administration for better garbage collection, paved streets, food cooperatives, and playgrounds.”  In addition to carrying a full academic course-load, most of the students and many of their wives held down full-time jobs, trying to make ends meet, while also raising a family in tight living quarters [Schlereth, pages 191-192].

Vetville construction, October 1946

The lives of the married students and their families are well documented through the weekly newspaper, which debuted on April 30, 1947, and ran in one form or another through 1962.  It announced events, accomplishments, guidance, and other information for the Vetville families.

Three students playing with their children on a playground at Vetville, c1955. The American Baby Boom arrived at almost every house in Vetville.  Averaging one hundred births a year, Vetville was also known as “Fertile Acres.”

Notre Dame did not intend the barracks of Vetville to be permanent housing.  As the enrollment of veterans with families waned in the late 1950s, plans for new, modern residence halls, library, and chapel were laid out in the early 1960s.  The Vetville buildings and Navy Drill hall were demolished by 1962 to make room for the new construction.  However, Notre Dame also recognized the need for married students housing and the Cripe Street Apartments for married students was completed in 1962 as Vetville vanished.

On June 11, 1966, former Vetville Chaplain Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, dedicated a plaque on the hill just north of the Memorial Library (now called Hesburgh Library) to the families who spent their years at Notre Dame in Vetville.  It reads, “This area was the site of ‘Vetville,’ married student housing 1945-1962.  Many were the trials — Thanks to the Holy Family for the many blessings needed to persevere.”

 

Sources:
PNDP 10-Ve-01
PNDP 83-Nd-3s
Scholastic
The University of Notre Dame:  A Portrait of Its History and Campus by Thomas Schlereth (1976)
GPHR 45/4144
GPHR 45/2382

Telephones at Notre Dame

On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell used a liquid transmitter and electromagnetic receiver to relay his famous telephone message to Thomas Watson.  Bell, Thomas Edison, and other inventors raced to perfect the telephone.  The new technology arrived at Notre Dame on April 4, 1878:  “a telephone was attached to the telegraph wires at Notre Dame connecting to South Bend.  Conversation was freely carried on and music played at Notre Dame was distinctly heard at South Bend.”  Over the next several days, crowds gathered at both ends of the phone lines, presenting concerts to one another [Scholastic, 04/06/1878, pages 506 and 522].

Postcard of the Founders Monument, Log Chapel, and Old College, with telephone wires and poles, c1907

 Phones were eventually placed in various offices on campus and grew in number over time.  It wouldn’t be until 1968 when students would have phones in their individual dorm rooms.  In the meantime, students had little privacy when placing and receiving calls, as the phones were placed near the rectors’ offices or in other rather public places.  Even with the convenience of a booth, little was left to the imagination of the casual passer-by:  “The scene, Room 117 in the Main Building.  Back of this room is the Brownson telephone booth, hallowed by the ravings of many a love-lorn student…” [Dome yearbook 1918, page 331].

Over the years, Notre Dame worked with various telephone providers to upgrade the systems and to negotiate better rates.  In 1937, a telephone exchange was established at Notre Dame.  One could now connect to another on-campus phone by dialing directly.  However, out-of-city calls still required assistance from a Notre Dame operator.  Many Notre Dame engineering alumni who were employed by Indiana Bell Telephone Company worked on this major upgrade to the campus telephone system [Scholastic, 05/14/1937, page 7].

In 1963, the University switched to a Centrex system, which helped to lower the costs of long-distance calls and allowed for all faculty members and most administrative staff members to have their own lines.  The switchboard was no longer needed for long-distance incoming or outgoing calls, but was retained for informational services.  This system change also laid the groundwork for students to finally have their own phones, although it took five years to get there [Notre Dame, Fall 1963, page 11].  In 1968, “the impenetrable lines to Saint Mary’s finally broke in January when private phones were installed in each room” [Dome yearbook 1968, page 234].

Two students in a telephone booth in the Hesburgh Library basement, 1969-1970

The 1992 upgrade resulted in the prefix of all University phones changing to the now familiar 631 (ND-1) prefix for faculty and staff lines and 634 (ND-4) for student lines.  Voicemail access became 634-7474 (ND-IRISH).

In the 1990s, students registered for classes via Direct Access Registration by Telephone (DART).  The allotted fifteen minute registration time was made stressful by busy tones, closed classes, and the fear of a disconnection.  By the early 2000s, class registration was made more efficient by using the internet.

Student Hockey Athlete Matt Eisler using Direct Access Registration by Telephone (DART) to register for classes, March 1995

 In 2006, Notre Dame removed land-line phones in each dorm room as few students were actually using them in favor of their cell phones.  The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) installed house phones on every floor of the dorms for student use, reminiscent of the lamented system in place in the 1960s.  Students can still opt-in to have a land-line in their rooms, at an added charge, although few do.

In 2011, Notre Dame migrated phone service to “the computer data network instead of the traditional phone line” [http://myphone.nd.edu/], which also provided faculty and staff with many new calling features.  Other than getting used to a new handset, many of the changes were not apparent to the end user.

 

Sources:
“Timeline of the Telephone,” wikipedia.org
PNDP 30-Te-2
Scholastic
Dome yearbook
PNDP 83-Nd-3s:  “Now – Dial Any Notre Dame Office Direct with Prefix 284 and the Number,” Notre Dame, Fall 1963, page 11
“University cuts dorm telephones,” by Amanda Michaels, Observer, 08/23/2006
“Residence Hall Opt-In Phone Service FAQ,” OIT website
http://myphone.nd.edu/
GFCL 48/62
GDOM 7/45
GSCO 1/58

 

Carroll Hall Haunted House

At Notre Dame, students usually reside in the same dorm for at least their first three years.  This fosters a great sense of community among the dorm residents.  Out of that camaraderie has grown signature dorm events – at least one annual event in which most residents help to organize for the entire campus to enjoy, while also usually raising money for charity.

Ghoul John Morgan playing a piano at Carroll Hall’s Haunted House, 1988

For one night a year in late October from the 1980s until 1997, Carroll Hall’s signature event was the Haunted House.  Residents converted their secluded home on St. Mary’s Lake into the laboratories of mad scientists, operating rooms of sadistic surgeons, and torture rooms of dungeon guards.  Students would trek across campus to the remote dorm and wait in long lines in the cold to wander the transformed halls for a good scare.

Advertisement for Carroll Hall’s Haunted House in the Observer, 1992/1029

According to accounts online, several female visitors to Carroll’s Haunted House accused some of the residents of groping them in the dark halls in 1997.  This led Student Affairs to decide to terminate the tradition.  Since then Carroll Hall had developed another signature event:   A Carroll Christmas, which includes karaoke carols, cookie-baking contests, and a toy drive.

 

Sources:
Dome yearbooks 1985-1998
“Carroll Hall History,” www.verminnet.com
“Hall Portrait:  Carroll,” by Mike Connolly and Brigid Sweeney, Notre Dame Magazine, Autumn 2002
“Carroll Hall to Host Annual Christmas Event,” by Sarah Felenstein, Observer, 12/04/2009
GDOM
Observer, 10/29/1992

Got Tickets?

Notre Dame welcomes the Southern California football team this Saturday, continuing the 85-year storied rivalry.  When the teams are both doing well, as they are this year, the excitement is palpable as fans flock to campus days before the game.  With the anticipation of another great match-up, tickets are often hard to come by.

Demand for tickets for high-profile games is nothing new at Notre Dame.  In his capacity as Football Coach and Athletic Director, Knute Rockne often ended up playing ticket manager.  The Athletic Director records contain the occasional ticket request from celebrities.  Rockne sold tickets to Babe Ruth [UADR 18/138] and Lou Gehrig [UADR 12/31].  However, former Notre Dame football player Curley Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers was a bit late in his request and Rockne was unable to fulfill his request for a sold-out game in 1927 [UADR 14/116].

Some of the more colorful requests came from two famous cartoonists of the time requesting football tickets to the November 26, 1927, Notre Dame vs. Southern California (USC) game at Soldier Field in Chicago:

 Illustrated letter from Cartoonist Harold Gray to Athletic Director Knute Rockne featuring a drawing of Little Orphan Annie, dog Sandy, and Daddy Warbucks


Illustrated letter from Cartoonist Frank H. Willard to Athletic Director Knute Rockne featuring a drawing of Moon Mullins and Emmy (Schmaltz) Plushbottom

Sources:
UADR
GADR 1/04
GADR 1/10

The Peace Corps and Notre Dame

“The Peace Corps offers you a dimension that is lacking in our modern life — a spirit of idealism and adventure,” Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh at a dinner reception for the first group of Peace Corps volunteers trained at Notre Dame, 07/21/1961.

Shortly after his inauguration as United States President in 1961, John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps.  The Peace Corps comprises of thousands of young adults, mostly recent college graduates, who volunteer serving underdeveloped countries in various areas including education,  health care, recreation, and agriculture.  University President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh quickly became involved in the formation of the Peace Corps and in establishing a training program at Notre Dame, the first such program sponsored by a university.

Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, Peace Corps Volunteer Edward Tisch, and Walter Langford in Chile, April 1962

Notre Dame identified a number of opportunities in rural Chile for the first group.  Before embarking on this adventure in a foreign land, the students went through eight weeks of intensive summer classes at Notre Dame, including language, history, economics, and the culture of Chile.  “The mission of the training program in general will be to prepare this group of recent college graduates to play an informed, intelligent, and prudent role in providing the underprivileged members of the society of Chile with the means of their own intellectual improvement, with the means to realize and enjoy their human dignity” [“Exhibit B:  Proposal for Training Program,” PNDP 30-Pe-01].

Peace Corps Training Program Syllabus for Chile and Uruguay,
Notre Dame, June 24-September 11, 1964

Walter Langford, Notre Dame Professor of Modern Languages, was the field director of the first Peace Corps group to Chile from 1961-1963.  Over one hundred people applied to be one of the forty-two volunteers in the first group in 1961.  Notre Dame graduates made up the highest concentration with nine participants and Saint Mary’s College came in second with three.

Peace Corps Training, c1960s.
Sitting: Lawrence West, Jacqueline E. Wallace, and Notre Dame Professor Walter M. Langford
Standing: Joan L. Workman, Linda Showalter, Edward L. Tisch, Judith A. Grant, and Frank O’Hearn

Success in those first years wasn’t guaranteed.  Before the first group left, Langford acknowledged that there was the possibility of failure that could be a major set-back for all the parties involved.  However, he wrote, “this means only that we have a great responsibility as well as a challenge worthy of our very best and an opportunity for good that is positively awesome” [Notre Dame, Fall 1961].  This weekend Notre Dame will celebrate its long relationship with the Peace Corps.  Notre Dame will honor Fr. Hesburgh for his vision and leadership with the program and her alumni who have made a difference in communities around the world.

Sources:
PNDP 30-Pe-1
PNDP 83-Nd-3s:  “Peace Corps Volunteers Train at Notre Dame” by Walter M. Langford, Notre Dame, Fall 1961
UDIS 21/30
UDIS 22/01
UDIS 204/04-11
GDIS 48/31
GDIS 48/33

Football Game Watches

As the Irish football team has another road game this week, those not traveling to the game will have to catch it somewhere else.  In this day and age, football fans have a variety of media options to follow the score through television, radio, and the internet, making it virtually possible to get updates in every corner of the planet with decent reception.

In the early 20th century, students and fans heard the news from telegraph wires reporting the score.  They would gather in downtown South Bend at popular hang-outs such as Jimmie & Goat’s Cigar Store, the Palais Royale, and the Oliver Hotel, to hear the play-by-play action.

Football Game Day – Notre Dame vs. Army, 1915/1106 Students and fans gathered outside of Jimmie & Goat’s Cigar Store getting a wired play-by-play report of the game, updated on a chalkboard on the street.

By the 1920s, Notre Dame offered game watches to students and the local community inside the Fieldhouse with the full fanfare of the Marching Band.  If the Band happened to join the team on the road, a local orchestra might fill-in to provide musical entertainment.  In 1924, Notre Dame acquired an electric Gridgraph, which used lights to demonstrate the play-by-play account.  Various student organizations ran the Gridgraph and covered its operation cost by charging an admission fee, generally under twenty-five cents.  The University Archives of Michigan and Missouri have good examples of what an electronic Gridgraph looked like.

The 1922 homecoming game versus Indiana at Cartier Field was the the first Notre Dame game broadcast by radio and was aired on South Bend’s WGAZ (later WSBT).  However, “it is unknown whether anyone even heard this broadcast.”  As radio was a brand new medium, few households actually owned radios and there were no ratings reports at the time.  In 1923 and 1924, New York stations broadcasted the Notre Dame versus Army and Princeton.  The first Notre Dame home game to be broadcast outside of South Bend was the 1924 game versus Nebraska at Cartier Field on Chicago’s WGN [Gullifor, pages 4-6].  This new medium would revolutionize game “watching,” bringing fans closer to the action, and eventually making the Gridgraph obsolete.

Unlike other schools in the 1930s and 1940s, Notre Dame did not give any one radio network exclusive rights to broadcast the football games.  Instead, the field was open to many different broadcasters around the country.  This in turn helped strengthen Notre Dame’s unique position of having a nationwide fan base, whose groundwork was started even before Knute Rockne.  This open broadcasting policy also had some seemingly eternal consequences for Notre Dame:  “fan expectations for national championships and … the Irish football coach work[ing] in a fishbowl” [Sperber, page 453].

Football Program Cover:  Notre Dame vs. Syracuse, 1961/1118 Ted Drake drawing of radio announcer Joe Boland.

Former Irish football player Joe Boland established the Irish Football Network on the radio through WSBT in 1947.  Boland grew the coverage to include 190 stations, including the American Armed Forces Network, which broadcasted the games worldwide.  The Mutual Broadcasting System “outbid the Irish Football network for exclusive rights to the 1956 home season.”  Despite Boland’s tireless work to grow the Irish Football Network and dedication to his alma mater, Mutual could offer Notre Dame more revenue and broader coverage on over twice the number of radio stations [Gullifor, page 51].

Also during this time, fans could see game highlights as part of new reels at the movie theater.  Fans in select cities could watch the entire game in theaters for weeks after the game took place.  For instance, the 1927 Notre Dame versus Southern California football game, held at Soldier Field in Chicago, was filmed and screened days afterwards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium.  On a special “USC night,” three days after the game had been played, an audience of 4500 came to watch the game film, complete with the USC band providing musical accompaniment (spoiler alert:  ND won the game 7-6)  [Los Angeles Times, “Film Show Delayed by Union Row,” 11/30/1927].

The first televised game was home against Iowa in 1947.  University President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh and Athletic Director Edward “Moose” Krause had dreams of having regular national television coverage of Notre Dame football games.  However, they were deterred by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), who banned “individual deals by member schools” [“Prime Time” by Richard Conklin, Notre Dame Magazine, Autumn 1991].

Notre Dame Closed Circuit Football Network brochure announcing game watches, 1955

From the 1950s-1980s, Notre Dame worked within the NCAA’s restrictions regarding the number of nationally broadcast games a year.  Regional coverage was an option, as was closed-circuit networks.  In 1955, Notre Dame offered a live closed-circuit television network, which broadcast three games to select hotel ballrooms across the country.  The lucky cities to receive coverage were Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Rochester (NY), St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.

A 1984 US Supreme Court decision overturned the NCAA’s stronghold over national television contracts with individual schools.  In 1990, Notre Dame became the first college to sign an exclusive television contract with a national broadcast company (NBC) to televise the home games.  More recently, other conferences and schools have brokered similar deals by creating their own presence on cable and the internet, including the Big Ten Network and Texas’ Longhorn Network.  Notre Dame also offers exclusive content online, and is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.  As technology advances and as more people demand 24 hour content from their favorite school, it is clear that there is a lot of potential for the fan experience to continue to evolve and expand.

Football Game Day – Notre Dame vs. Michigan, 1982/0918 (Notre Dame’s first home night game) Portable devices offer access to extended game coverage, even while in the stands.  A woman is watching the game on a portable television, while the man in front of her is listening to it on a transistor radio.


Sources:
The Fighting Irish on the Air:  The History of Notre Dame Football Broadcasting by Paul Gullifor
Shake down the Thunder by Murray Sperber
Los Angeles Times, “Film Show Delayed by Union Row,” 11/30/1927
PNDP 3020-B-01
PNDP 3020-G-01
GMIL 1/08
PATH Football Programs
PATH Closed Circuit Television Network
GRMD 11/42

Jewish Students at Notre Dame

The student population at Notre Dame has always consisted of religions and denominations other than Catholic, including Jewish.  Statistics of ethnic and religious backgrounds of Notre Dame students have not always been maintained, so exact numbers and percentages over the years are difficult to ascertain.

In 1878, Scholastic reported that the few Jewish students at Notre Dame celebrated Pasch:  “It was remarked that all, even the youngest, kept a strict fast on the eve.  They had recreation the the festival itself, and a fine day to enjoy it” [Scholastic, 04/2/1878, page 554].  In 1933, Scholastic reported that there were thirty-four Jewish students at Notre Dame out of 2547 total students [Scholastic, 10/20/1933, page 8].

Football Team outside of Sorin Hall, 1896.
Back row: Patrick E. Reardon, Angus D. McDonald, Trainer Housler, Thomas J. O’Hara, and William A. Fagan
Middle row: John (Jack) Mullen, Frank Hanley, Thomas T. Cavanaugh, Francis Lyons, Jacob Rosenthal, Frederick J. Schillo, John C. Murphy
Front row: Charles Moritz, Robert Emmett Brown, Michael T. Daly, Frank E. Hering, William C. “Vic” Kegler

The University Presidents Letters Collection contains much correspondence between parents of students at Notre Dame and the University Administration.  Among those letters are a handful from Jewish parents inquiring about Notre Dame’s policy of attending Catholic religious services.  In 1905, University President Andrew Morrissey responded that while students are required to attend Catholic services, they are not obliged to participate.

Jacob Rosenthal (pictured above) may have been Notre Dame’s first Jewish football player.  The University Presidents’ Letters contain a number of letters from Rosenthal, his father Samuel, and his brother (possibly Moses, who also attended Notre Dame).  We learn from Rosenthal that after graduating from Notre Dame, he attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and later worked for Catholic and Jewish hospitals.

Unfortunately, levels of discrimination and harassment are often inevitable when peoples of different cultures and religions coexist.  In 1903, Mr. Bromberg removed his sons George and Louis from Notre Dame after allegations of mistreatment because of their Jewish faith [UPEL 106/16].

Athletic Director, Football and Track Coach Knute Rockne, a Norwegian Protestant who later converted to Catholicism, “had many Jewish friends” and “was a Judeophile, often speaking before Jewish groups and for Jewish causes, and also recruiting Jewish players for the Fighting Irish.”  Among his athletes with Jewish backgrounds were Clarence Kaplan, Abie Zos, Norm Herwit, and Marchmont (Marchy) Schwartz.  “As the master coach always said, not all Fighting Irish hailed from Ireland.” [Sperber, pages 299, 415, 561].

Football Players Frank Carideo, Joe Savoldi, Marchmont (Marchy) Schwartz, and Marty Brill, c1929-1930

The first known Notre Dame graduate to become a Rabbi was Albert Plotkin.*  Plotkin graduated in 1942 and continued his studies at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he was ordained.  Throughout Plotkin’s career, he became known for promoting interfaith dialog and understanding.

National Summa Fundraising Kickoff Luncheon, c1967-1968
Professor Frank O’Malley (left) and Rabbi Albert Plotkin (right)

Plotkin credits his education at Notre Dame for instilling students with “a feeling that religion must become part and parcel of one’s entire being.  It cannot be put away in a small corner and opened up once a week and then closed.  It must become a way of life and a way of thinking which inspires one to feel one’s moral responsibility to one’s community.  Going to a Catholic University made me rethink my own faith — the power it must play and the function it must use in my own life.”  He continued, “I shared in exchange of ideas, of faith and of knowledge which was important to my inner security and to my understanding of my fellow Catholics.  I learned to appreciate many of the profound qualities of their faith, and an understanding of their heritage and the realization of the bridge between Judaism and Christianity” [Plotkin, Notre Dame, Winter 1961, pages 4-5, 18].

* Updated 12/19/2016:  Digitizing the Commencement programs has uncovered a few men who were already Rabbis at the time their graduate degrees were conferred:  Rabbi Philip Shraga Greenstein (MA 1930), Rabbi Maurice Noah Stiskin (MA 1932), and Rabbi Hyman Jacob Coehn (MS 1943).

Sources:
PNDP 05-Je-01
PNDP 83-Nd-3s – “What Notre Dame Means to Me…” by Rabbi Albert Plotkin, Notre Dame, Winter 1961, pages 4-5, 18
UPEL 71/01
UPEL 93/09
UPEL 106/16
UPEL – Rosenthal correspondence
Scholastic
Shake down the Thunder by Murray Sperber
GBBY 81G/02
GBBY 81F/0491
GNDM 1298