Shenanigans

Nineteen-fifteen was the year that Mexican "bandits" were raiding across the Texas border. Apropos these skirmishes, Ring Lardner wrote: "It is said that President Wilson, in the event of a war with Mexico, will leave the Army at home and send Notre Dame to the front."

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"It was during the war and Army had a great team, while nobody else had much of anything for a squad," Coach Jesse Harper once remembered. "We had George Gipp, but he was just a freshman. We had Slip Madigan, the old St. Mary's coach, who weighed 160, and our right halfback was Joe Brandy, who weighed only 140. Army had big Biff Jones at one tackle and Elmer Oliphant, an All-American, backing up the line behind him. So we told our boys to run the other way all day. Before you knew it, we were down to their seven-yard line, and I think it was third down with goal to go.

"I knew we'd never get that close again. I was wondering what we could do when Gipp first showed me what kind of a head he had. All during his career, you know, he had a habit of making up plays to fit the situation. He did it this time. He told our quarterback to fake a play the way we'd been going, and let Brandy run right at Jones. It worked. The Army was so surprised by the maneuver that Brandy ran right past them and scored a touchdown. We won the game; nothing else ever gave me quite as big a kick."

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One evening during the summer of '18 George bumped into his old friend of high-school days, Frederic Larson, on a Calumet street. "What's your plans for the future?" George asked.

"I plan to join the Army ," Larson replied.

"Come down to Notre Dame and play football," George said. "If we don't kill you by the time the season is over, then join the Army ."

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