Rockne’s Last Game Produced National Title

Sixty-nine years ago today, on a sunny afternoon in the Coliseum, Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne appeared on a football sideline for the last time.

And it was a masterpiece.

Before 88,000, Notre Dame shocked favored USC, 27-0, and wrapped up its second consecutive national championship.

Three and a half months later, Rockne died at 43 in a Kansas plane crash.

Cunning, guile and a little white lie were the elements in what might have been Rockne’s greatest one-game coaching achievement. His team had beaten powerhouses Army and Northwestern on consecutive Saturdays, both on the road.

Then Rockne began playing the L.A. press corps and the Trojans like a violin.

“No coach should expect to win three straight games over Army, Northwestern and USC,” he said.

Then there was the matter of the Irish fullback. Rockne said he was down to his third fullback, that scrub Dan Hanley would start at the position.

That was the white lie. At a Wednesday-Thursday stop in Tucson for two practices, Rockne had a track sprinter, Bucky O’Connor, wear Hanley’s uniform, and pointed him out to several Los Angeles reporters.

“I’ll be pleased if we come within two touchdowns,” Rockne said.

Right. Late in the opening quarter, O’Connor zoomed 80 yards up the middle, giving Notre Dame a 13-0 lead. The Trojans, who had averaged 535 yards a game, were outgained, 428-146.

Also on this date: In 1960, major league baseball owners awarded Gene Autry a 1961 expansion team for Los Angeles. He stood before a bank of microphones at a St. Louis hotel and said: “We’re overwhelmed by the news and we’re ready to roll . . . and we’ll call our team the Angels.” . . . In 1968, major league owners fired commissioner William D. Eckert. . . . In 1947, a crowd of 104,953--at the time the fifth-largest crowd in college football history--saw Notre Dame beat USC, 38-7, at the Coliseum.