Notre Dame football is rich in many regards, including a deep reservoir of photographs from the early days of the program and into the middle of the 20th century that provide us with an amazing look back at this beloved program. I recently took some time to pick through some of my favorite pictures from te past. If you have any that you’d like to share–especially ones that aren’t all that popular–share them in the comment section.

1918 Team Photo

They used to write names on these photos and yet we can’t get nameplates on the backs of jerseys today, damn it. This was Rockne’s first team in his debut season as head coach during a campaign that took a month off in October due to the Spanish flu. What has always struck me is how mean most of these players look.

Of course, this picture is historical for the inclusion of the mythological George Gipp and Curly Lambeau before he left school to found the Green Bay Packers, plus future head coach (and Rockne successor) Hunk Anderson.

Purdue 1920

We don’t have a ton of good photos of old Cartier Field but this one from November 6, 1920 against Purdue is one of my favorite. If I have my compass set correctly this was taken from the direction of the Main Building but likely from a ladder or some sort of other temporary structure. To my knowledge, there was no large structure this close to the northwest corner of Cartier at this time.

While the southeastern corner of campus still remains the least developed spot it’s crazy to look at this picture and see a vast land of nothingness in the distance. It’s also still mind-blowing that Notre Dame developed into a powerhouse while playing in this generously sized high school stadium, even for this era.

The 4 Horsemen

There are many iconic photos of the legendary Four Horsemen. This is not one of them!

I haven’t been able to date this photograph (I should’ve rang the archives office) but it’s definitely well after their playing days. It’s tough to tell because people seemed to age a lot quicker 100 years ago (see below) but if I had to guess this was taken some time in the 1930’s long after the Horsemen had moved on from their playing days.

1927 USC in Chicago

This was only the second meeting between the Irish and USC, plus Southern Cal’s first-ever trip east of the Rocky Mountains for a game. It was also Notre Dame’s second game ever played at the old Solider Field following a 1924 game against Northwestern.

This game set the college football attendance record–rumored to be as many as 127,000 fans that day–which stood for nearly 100 years. This picture is awesome because it shows the final score and is such a great shot of the absolute throng of fans packed into the seats that day.

1930 Army-Navy at Yankee Stadium

Here’s a shot of Knute Rockne on December 13, 1930 taking in the Army-Navy football game. Seated to his right is New York City mayor Jimmy Walker. These were two of the most influential men in their professions at the time, both seemingly at the height of their power, too.

Walker would resign under the weight of a major scandal less than 2 years later while Rockne was dead about 14 weeks after this photo was taken having already coached his final game for the Irish.

Oklahoma 1953

No one aged as Notre Dame head coach quite like Frank Leahy who took the struggles of the job harder than anyone. Here we have a program from the 1953 opener in Norman during Leahy’s final season with the Irish. Presumably, this picture with Sooners head coach Bud Wilkinson is from the previous year’s game in South Bend.

 

Leahy was 44 years old in this photograph. To put that in perspective, Brian Kelly turned 44 during his second season with Central Michigan. To be fair, Wilkinson is only 36 years old in this picture!