This humorous tale was told by Frank Carideo about himself and his paisan, Joe Savoldi. It’s from Jerry Brondfield’s wonderful biography, Rockne.

This was a game, (against Pittsburg in 1930) incidentally, when Carideo and Savoldi put their Italian heritage to good use, but then got caught at it. Both had learned to speak Italian in their homes. Savoldi, often to Rock's displeasure, would forget a signal and look over appealingly at Carideo. Carideo would repeat it in Italian. But then a Pitt tackle began crashing through and dumping Savoldi before he could hit the hole. Nearly always, it seemed, when Savoldi was getting the repeat signal in Italian. Finally the astute Carideo straightened up and walked over to the Panther side of the line of scrimmage before the ball was put in play. Casually, he called out in Italian: "Any good Italianos here?" The Pitt tackle obligingly held up his hand. "Thanks," Carideo said in English. No more signals were called in Italian.

Joe and roommate Frank Carideo were often the target for ethnic barbs about their Italian ancestry. They, for the most part, took them good naturedly. When the players from another team taunted them with the current hit song, “Yes, We Have No Bananas” they used the barb to inspire a hilarious act for the campus talent show. No reviews survived of their duet, but the photo below is evidence that the act must have been a hit…

From the J.G. Savoldi collection

Joe Savoldi was not only a brute force on the football field, but had a sharp mind, too. Evidence of this fact was that he was the undisputed checker champion on the Notre Dame campus.