Shenanigans

Terry Eurick hits the Trojans line in '77.

Elmer Layden: "Howard Jones, who had beaten Notre Dame as coach of Iowa (that 1921affair) and more recently had beaten me twice while coaching Southern Cal. Howard was one of the really fine men in football. One of his favorite boasts was that someday he'd beat Notre Dame by playing eleven Catholics against us. One year, he darn near did."

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There were around 2,500 people at the luncheon and it was packed. Craig Fertig, the former USC quarterback, and Tommy Hawkins, who was a great basketball player at Notre Dame and now works in Los Angeles, were the masters of ceremonies.

Fertig told a great story about going back to South Bend in 1967 to play Notre Dame when the Trojans hadn't won in Notre Dame Stadium in thirty-two years. They told him the weather was nice. It was 19 degrees. John McKay informed the officials that he absolutely would not bring his team onto the field until Notre Dame was already there, because he was not going to have his team stand around in the cold while Notre Dame made them wait to play.

It ended up being kind of a Mexican standoff, because neither McKay nor Ara would budge. Finally, an official went to get USC's team and said if they didn't take the field now, they would have to forfeit the game. McKay said, "What would the score be?" The official told him it would be 2--0, and McKay said, "That's the best damn deal we've gotten here yet.""

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Before the 1988 Notre Dame - USC game, two Notre Dame running backs, Tony Brooks and Ricky Waters were suspended for being late for a team meeting. Coach Holtz said he felt bad putting them on a plane back home to South Bend. He wanted to put them on a bus!!

And now a vintage Molarity, Michael Molinelli's popular cartoon strip from the late 70s and early 80s.

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