Knute Rockne
Knute Rockne was a renowned football coach and a pivotal figure in college football history. Born in Voss, Norway, he emigrated to the United States with his family as a child and eventually attended Notre Dame University. Initially focused on track and field, Rockne transitioned to football, where he made significant contributions as a player and coach. He became head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 1918, leading the team to unprecedented success with a record of 105 wins, 12 losses, and 5 ties over his thirteen-year tenure. Rockne was known for his innovative strategies, including the extensive use of the forward pass and the development of the shifting offense, which transformed the game.
Beyond his tactical genius, Rockne was a widely admired public figure, known for promoting teamwork and integrity in sports. His coaching legacy included five undefeated seasons and six national championships, and he played a key role in popularizing college football during the 1920s. Tragically, Rockne's life was cut short in a plane crash in 1931, but his influence on the sport endures, cementing his status as a football legend and one of the first sports celebrities in the United States. His life and achievements were later dramatized in the film "Knute Rockne, All American," further immortalizing his contributions to the game.
Knute Rockne
Football Player
- Born: March 4, 1888
- Birthplace: Voss, Norway
- Died: March 31, 1931
- Place of death: near Bazaar, Chase county, Kansas
American football coach
One of the great sports innovators of the early twentieth century, Rockne revolutionized football by promoting the forward pass as a major part of game play. As a coach, Rockne devised innovative game strategies, including the shift formation-shift offense, which transformed Notre Dame University into one of the premier college football programs. As a consequence, he became a legend in his own time, and his reputation was accentuated by his untimely death in a plane crash.
Areas of achievement Sports, education
Early Life
Knute Rockne (newt RAWK-nee) was born in Voss, Norway. His father, a master carriage maker who came to the United States to display his wares in 1891, became so enamored with the potential of America that he did not return to Norway. Instead, Rockne brought his family, including his son, Knute, to the Logan Square district of Chicago to begin a new life.
Rockne was a multisport athlete at North West Division High School, excelling in football, baseball, and track and field. He intended to go to college at the University of Illinois but lacked the financial resources. To earn money for his education, Rockne went to work for the post office; he continued to engage in track and field events with local Chicago clubs. After saving his money for four years, he was finally prepared to pursue a college degree, but he chose to not attend Illinois. Fellow members of his local track and field club who planned to attend Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, persuaded him to enroll there instead. At the age of twenty-two, Rockne was finally a college freshman.
Football was not Rockne’s primary emphasis at Notre Dame. He played sparingly as a freshman and devoted most of his time to the track and field team. He continued to excel at field events, setting school records in the pole vault. His athletic ability caught the attention of football coach Jesse Harper, who convinced Rockne to give football another chance. A swift and sure-handed receiver, Rockne earned All-American third-team honors the following year.
Members of the football team officially known as the Fighting Irish since 1927 roomed together. Rockne’s roommate was Charles “Gus” Dorais, the team’s quarterback. The two players got jobs as lifeguards during the summer of 1913, passing the time by tossing the ball to each other, a seemingly trivial event in itself. However, they became so proficient at throwing and catching that they determined to use the forward pass more often in the upcoming season.
The forward pass had been legal in college football since 1906, but it was used only sparingly until the fall of 1913, when Notre Dame would use the forward pass extensively and become the first program to do so. The Irish would win often and convincingly that season. Perhaps the greatest use of the forward pass came on November 1, when Notre Dame traveled to New York to play Army, the team from the U.S. Military Academy. Army was the powerhouse college football program of the day, but thanks to Notre Dame’s passing attack, the Irish upset the heavily favored Army by a score of 35-13. The game not only established Notre Dame as a college football power but also made the forward pass a significant part of games thereafter.
Life’s Work
Rockne graduated from Notre Dame in 1914, and the university asked him to stay, but not as football coach. Rockne had graduated magna cum laude with a degree in chemistry, and the university offered him a position as a graduate assistant to teach chemistry. Rockne, newly married and with a family to support, took the position on the condition that he also be allowed to serve as an assistant football coach. Notre Dame agreed, and Rockne taught chemistry and coached football until 1917, the year head coach Jesse Harper retired. Rockne became the head coach the following season, with his former teammate, Dorais, as one of his assistants.
Notre Dame became a football powerhouse as Rockne developed his team not only with an innovative offense but also with physical conditioning. Other coaches relied upon the innate talent of their players, but Rockne was one of the first to employ conditioning drills and calisthenics. He also instituted standardized practice drills designed to improve upon natural talent.
One of Rockne’s greatest innovations, in addition to the forward pass, was the so-called shift offense. An offense would line up in the traditional T formation that most teams of the era used, but with Rockne’s plan the offense would shift into a box formation just before the quarterback received the snapped ball. The box formation gave Notre Dame an advantage, as the last-moment movement of the offense stymied the defense and prevented it from reacting in time to compensate. The shifting formation was a staple of Notre Dame football for years, both during and after Rockne’s tenure as coach. The team’s offensive schemes under Rockne would help to popularize college football by the end of the 1920’s. Football now deftly combined running and passing plays, which created a varied and exciting sport that became immensely popular by the end of the decade.
Rockne also helped the program at Notre Dame by attracting talented players, including George Gipp, better known as the Gipper. Gipp was Notre Dame’s first player to achieve All-American status, but he died tragically in his senior season in 1920. Locked out of his lodgings and forced to sleep outside one night, Gipp contracted pneumonia and developed a strep infection. According to legend, Gipp, while lying on his deathbed, asked Rockne to have the Irish players “win one for the Gipper.” Rockne’s other fabled players were Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden. Playing in the same backfield, the talented quartet was dubbed the Four Horsemen by famed sportswriter Grantland Rice, who drew upon the biblical imagery of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Between 1923 and 1924, the Four Horsemen powered Notre Dame to a 28-2 record, their only losses coming against the University of Nebraska.
In 1931, Rockne was hired as a consultant for the Hollywood film The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931). However, he would never make it to Los Angeles to aid in the production. The aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed soon after takeoff from Kansas City, Missouri, killing everyone on board. In 1940, Warner Bros. released a film portraying Rockne’s life titled Knute Rockne, All American, with Pat O’Brien as Rockne and Ronald Reagan as the Gipper.
Significance
Success as a coach made Rockne a sporting legend in his own time. His fame made him a popular public speaker as well, as he presented speeches on the benefits of teamwork, a theme Rockne knew well. In thirteen years as head coach at Notre Dame, he compiled a record of 105 wins, 12 losses, and 5 ties. He coached the team to five undefeated seasons and won six national championships.
In addition to changing how football was played and coached, Rockne was one of the first sports celebrities in the United States. During the 1920’s, sports figures such as Rockne, Babe Ruth, and Jack Dempsey were the first athletes to gain nationwide celebrity and to earn the riches and accolades that fame brought with it. Unlike other early sports celebrities, however, Rockne strove to project a persona of strength, preparation, and personal integrity, and in doing so made himself a football legend when the game was first reaching national popularity.
Bibliography
Maggio, Frank P. Notre Dame and the Game That Changed Football: How Jesse Harper Made the Forward Pass a Weapon and Knute Rockne a Legend. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2007. A detailed discussion of the famed 1913 game between Notre Dame and Army, the contest that defined Rockne’s early career and set him on his path as a future coach.
Robinson, Ray. Rockne of Notre Dame: The Making of a Football Legend. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. The best general biography of Rockne. Fully describes the legend around Rockne but also reveals some less admirable elements of his personality.
Rockne, Knute, and Bonnie Skiles Rockne. The Autobiography of Knute K. Rockne. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1931. Rockne was in the middle of writing this autobiography when he died, so his wife, Bonnie Skiles, completed the task. A broad discussion of Rockne’s life, with the most in-depth discussion of his childhood available in any biography.
Sperber, Murray A. Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football. New York: Henry Holt, 1993. A history of Notre Dame University’s role in the rise of college football, with Rockne’s career as the book’s centerpiece.
Related Articles in Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century
1901-1940: January 12, 1906: American College Football Allows the Forward Pass.