Notre Dame has been playing football for 135 years and along the way some momentous decisions were made to shape the history of this storied program now entering a daring new phase of college sports. This off-season, we look back at the 10 best decisions made for the Fighting Irish in the decades past.
#2
Embracing the Subway Alumni
A common theme in this countdown is how many different decisions have been intertwined throughout Notre Dame history. That is certainly the case for today. Each of Notre Dame Stadium (#8), Michigan’s Malfeasance (#6), the 1913 Schedule (#5), and the NBC TV Deal (#3) can all be indirectly or directly related to Notre Dame’s decision to embrace the “Subway Alumni” and become a national brand in college football.
In many ways, this is a story about Notre Dame embracing the sports capital of New York City during the Roaring 1920’s in a time when college football was blowing up and the Yankees were establishing themselves as a dynasty. The team was able to sell tickets in massive stadiums, fans traveled from their local areas to watch, and an uniquely Fighting Irish brand was created.
Notre Dame traveled to New York in 1921 to face Rutgers inside the Polo Grounds (then home to Yankees) and returned to the New York metro area with a game in 1923 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn against Army. In all previous 9 meetings against Army, the games were played on campus at West Point until this 1923 game inside the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Notre Dame-Army came back to the Polo Grounds again in 1924 and then transitioned to the new home at Yankee Stadium for 1925. It would be the first of 22 games played by Notre Dame inside Yankee Stadium through the completion of World War II, with all but one (Iowa, 1939) played against Army. There’ a reason the game against Army will be played inside Yankee Stadium this fall on November 23rd, right?
For Notre Dame, it wasn’t just about New York City exclusively although the Big Apple was the spark that ignited things. Facing a national schedule where the Irish played in metro areas all over the country was a crucial factor in cultivating the Subway Alumni. Even close to home, taking advantage of the cavernous Solider Field in Chicago brought more mass appeal to the tiny little school from Indiana.
Of course, the Subway Alumni is dear to my heart. I didn’t grow up knowing anyone who attended the University of Notre Dame, I didn’t visit campus until I was a teenager and my first football game wasn’t until I was 25! And yet, I’ve been a life-long fan and spent almost 20 years (how is this possible?) deciding I need to talk about this football team.
Ruth & Gehrig watching ND-USC at Soldier Field, 1927.
Obviously, it’s not 1927 anymore and 100 years on things are different for Notre Dame and its fans. There’s always been a subsection of Irish alums who are hostile, combative, or dismissive of all the fans who never attended the university. It doesn’t bother me, nor do I take it very seriously. Alums should be proud and protective and sometimes that comes across in a variety of ways. At times, Subway Alums should rightfully take a step back on certain issues.
What we should all agree on is that Notre Dame swelling its fan base well beyond its Indiana borders was one of the biggest strokes of genius in American sports history. To this day, 35 years since the football team’s last National Championship, the Subway Alumni can still lay claim to making and maintaining Notre Dame as a national name that has allowed the university to grow tremendously in size and wealth.
This is a dope one. No one in my family has ever attended the university as a student. Once I “chose” *settled* for d2 football, that dried up the last attempt at a famuly memeber going there for undergrad.
That being said, my grandfather, who’s oldest son played under bo at Mich would go to their games, sit in the parents section, and be wearing exclusively ND gear. He passed away when I was 5 years old, but that irish football common denominator has spanned the decades, and also justifies why 20 year olds playing an athletic event 1100 miles away gives me high blood pressure 13 times a year.
Excellent choice and could easily be number 1. Without the Subway Alumni, we’re Marquette in a worse location.
I panicked a bit when I saw the header photo.
#1 –
Subway Series uniformsThe ShirtThe collar goes up to my chin, and the sleeves are below my elbows! Also, it is made of lead.
#1 –
Subway Series uniformsThe ShirtFreekbassAt first glimpse of the picture: “#2 decision…the Shamrock Series!”
As an alum of a few schools that have big non-attending alumni fanbases, I’ve never really judged the non-alumni save for one way: when they represent the school in an absolutely idiotic way. The amount of times I’ve seen some bigoted comment on ND social media telling ND that it’s become a horrible school, and then you see something like “Mark-Ball State Alumni” on the profile is way too high. In a similar vein for any of my schools, for any non-alumni fan to tout academics over another school just is dumb. So, in summation, I just don’t like the non-alumni who represent the school horribly. If the bigoted person went to ND, it’s like family; you have to deal with them but can never really get away from them. But if they didn’t go to ND, then why do you choose to represent a place that I put a lot of work and care into and can never really disassociate with in a horrible way?
Also, Lou Gehrig could have walked out there and played in that game. Guy was (tragically) an absolute athletic unit.
As a Ball State alum myself, I won’t stand for this slan-oh who am I kidding, it’s totally warranted.
As a Mishawaka native who never went to Notre Dame, I consider myself a Transpo alumni.
Thought about going to ND for a hot second, until my older brother applied and we found out there was no merit aid. I took the $$$ at a small liberal arts school, but never stopped being a Notre Dame, except for a few years of rooting for IU basketball when I went there for grad school.
Bloomington is a beautiful place and an incredible college town, I lived there for a few years in my early 20s, still miss it especially during the fall.
Appreciate this one. I grew up on Notre Dame football, lived 1.5 hours away and went to about 20 home games before the busy schedule of being a high schooler took many of the opportunities away. My dad went to ND for undergrad and my grandpa went there for law school on the GI bill after WWII. I applied to ND and got in but went to Purdue cuz they were the best school in the country for my major (that I of course changed 1 year in; I changed to psych which Purdue was luckily also great for being an R1 university), and nearly all of my friend group was going there. If I had been born a few years earlier and been a bit more romantic about it I might’ve tried to walk on (I was honorable mention all state LB, lightly recruited by some lower level D1 and Ivy League schools), but I was ready not to have my life center around football (good choice before attending Purdue lol)
Wait, did you go to Purdue for undergrad and then IU for grad school then?
I played D3 tennis, badly. but if I’d played for even a competitive D3 program it would have been a pain to double major and get into a good grad school. Respect for the 18 year olds with the maturity to handle the grind of D1 athletics and a solid academic load.
I am a Subway Alum pretty much by default. My dad’s family lived next door to the Rockne family quite near the university on St Vincent St. When rockne converted to Catholicism my grandfather was his Godfather. My dad and his five brothers and of course not his two sisters all graduated from ND. When I was eight my parents bought a house on E Wayne St that my mom always admired which the Rockne family had built in 1928. One of my brothers was the black sheep on the family as he was the only one who graduated from ND. However he hated it and will root for any team that ND plays. Despite that something like twenty nine people in my grandparents lineage went to ND. Including a cousin who played on the team albeit about fourth string I even had a relative who was a carpenter in the 1900s who helped install the bell in the cathedral. I ended up going to WMU.as I never had the grades for ND
Any reason he hated ND?
Yes. YES. I’m all about this. Even if I wasn’t an on paper alumni I’d stand proud hip to hip with anyone else that loves this school.
Great, great, GREAT choice Eric. Huge bravos for going with this one, and yes, it could easily be #1. My son is ND 4th gen, granddad taught chemistry with the Rock, blah blah etc etc… but its always been absolutely clear to me what an incredible blessing in all the senses of that word the subway alum are for ND.
Loved all your stories so far on this thread.
Indeed, family is the rightest word, and ND is so fortunate to have such an extended one.
Also a subway alum here – I’ve had family attend, including my father and an aunt, but the biggest fan I (or, frankly, anyone) have ever met is my mom, who grew up a reasonable walk from campus and did attend Saint Mary’s as a senior but never ND.
The Irish are the only sports allegiance I was given no choice whatsoever in having, and it’s absolutely why it means so much more to me than the others.
There’s only one team we watch in this house, right rudy?
Subway alum here too. Like Andy said, this was the one that I really had no choice about – we followed lots of sports but the Irish were always #1. My wife is a grad school alum so I do have that connection now but before her, no one in our family had attended. We were just Irish and Polish Catholics from the south side of Chicago.