Chapter 1: Notre Dame & St. Edward’s University (Saturday 9/18)
Father Edward Sorin established two Catholic Universities in 19th century America. The first university, Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, is perhaps the most famous Catholic school in the United States. The second university might surprise you.
Born in France during the Napoleonic wars, Father Edward Sorin came to the United States in 1841. After a long journey to America’s heartland by way of the Hudson River and Erie Canal, Sorin arrived in South Bend. There, he purchased land from a Catholic bishop just northeast of downtown for the purpose of establishing a school. In 1842, Notre Dame University was born. Sorin dedicated the next three decades to overseeing its survival and growth. By the 1870s, Sorin needed a new project.
Mrs. Mary Doyle owned a large farm just south of Austin, Texas, and announced her intention to leave the property to the Catholic church after her death. The church contacted Sorin in Indiana, who traveled to Texas to make all of the arrangements. Sorin marveled at the views of downtown Austin and the Texas Hill Country from the “hilltop” of Doyle’s farm. He told Doyle of his idea to establish a second Catholic university, one for the American south which would rival Notre Dame in the American North. Doyle approved; in 1877, St. Edward’s University was born.
St. Edward’s capitalized on the growth of Austin, TX during the late 19th century. The school soon boasted of increased enrollment, a student newspaper, and a football team. In the 1880s, the St. Edward’s President commissioned the construction of its iconic Administration building. The building was constructed by architect Nicolas Clayton, who also built the First Presbyterian church in Galveston closely associated with Austin College. Both structures still stand today.
St. Edward’s and Austin College have a lot in common. Both are small schools in a state where big is king. Hilltopper & Kangaroo Athletics do not draw the publicity of their larger Division 1 neighbors in Texas. Both schools live quietly in the shadows of the bigger schools in Austin & Dallas.
For St. Edward’s, the contrast is even starker: the Texas Longhorns suck all of the oxygen out of Austin, leaving almost none for the school on the hilltop just down the road. In the capital of Texas, Longhorn football is everything. St. Edward’s hasn’t played the sport since 1941.
But like Austin College, St. Edward’s has history. It has been around for nearly 150 years. It is the lesser-known sibling of the most famous Catholic University in America, Notre Dame University. And when we think of Notre Dame, we think of football.
The football ties between St. Edward’s and Notre Dame before World War II are as strong as the ties between the Vatican and Rome. Austin College & St. Edward’s share those football ties, which include links to perhaps the most famous football coach in American history: Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne.
Chapter 2: Knute Rockne & Roo Pete Cawthon (Sunday 9/19)
Hey, did you see what happened yesterday? Notre Dame won at the “House that Rockne Built.” The defeat of Purdue gave Irish Coach Brian Kelly win #105, which tied the Notre Dame record for most coaching victories. Brian Kelly now stands in 2021 alongside legendary Irish Coach Knute Rockne. Thanks Coach Kelly, for playing a supporting role in this story of Notre Dame & Rockne.
Back in 1925, Coach Knute Rockne of Notre Dame had a problem.
His Fighting Irish had secured a national championship in 1924, but would open the 1925 season in South Bend, Indiana against Southwest Conference champion Baylor. Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas, SMU, Rice, and even little St. Edward’s had all failed to defeat the mighty Bears in 1924. But where all schools had faltered, one school had triumphed. Little Austin College shocked the state that fall, upsetting Baylor in Waco by a score of 7-3. Rockne was desperate to chat with Kangaroo head coach Pete Cawthon and learn how he did it.
And Rockne knew just the place to have that chat: St. Edward’s University.
The center of the football universe was moving from east to west during the Rockne years, and Notre Dame’s success in the 1920s had replaced the football dominance of Harvard, Yale & Princeton. Rockne was certain that the future of the game lay south, especially in Texas. In 1925, he announced that Notre Dame coaching staff would be holding a two-week football clinic at St. Edward’s University. Coaches from around the state were encouraged to come. Rockne made sure that one coach in particular was there: his friend Pete Cawthon.
Pete Cawthon had already led the Roos to a few of their finest seasons. In addition to the 1924 win over Baylor, Cawthon had earned a conference title for AC in 1923. At St. Edward’s, the Roo & Irish coaches would talk about Notre Dame, Austin College, the Baylor Bears, and the future of football in Texas. They became close, establishing a relationship that would last throughout their coaching tenures. Cawthon had modeled his coaching style & football strategy after Rockne; the iconic Notre Dame coach considered Cawthon one of his finest pupils.
As the camp drew to a close, the two posed briefly for a picture in front of the St. Edward’s Administration building. Was it surprising that two coaches……one a Presbyterian Roo and the other a Catholic Fighting Irish………would form such a relationship? Perhaps not. In addition to the mutual coaching admiration, Rockne was born in Norway to a Presbyterian family. He converted to Catholicism while coaching at Notre Dame, receiving his first communion at St. Edward’s University just before the photo was taken.
After two weeks in August, Rockne and Cawthon left St. Edward’s for South Bend & Sherman to begin the 1925 season. Notre Dame would enjoy some of its finest seasons in the late 1920s and give birth to one of American football’s most iconic moments. That moment would be experienced by two future coaches…………one at St. Edward’s and one at Austin College………….who would both later rendezvous in Austin, TX to battle for a title.
Chapter 3: Johnny O’Brien & “Win One for the Gipper” (Monday 9/20)
Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame squad was struggling. The 1928 record of Fighting Irish was a pedestrian 4-2 when Notre Dame traveled to Yankee Stadium on November 10th to take on undefeated and top ranked Army. At halftime, Army held a 6-0 lead. A Black Knight victory appeared inevitable, until Knute Rockne walked into his Irish locker room.
Rockne: “I’m going to tell you something I’ve kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew George Gipp. It was long before your time. But you know what a tradition he is at Notre Dame. And the last thing he said to me, ‘Rock,’ he said, ‘sometime, when the team is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, tell ’em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock,’ he said, ‘but I’ll know about it; and I’ll be happy.’”
The speech is American sport lore.
Notre Dame emerged from their locker room fired up, and soon tied the score at 6-6 on a Jack Chevigny touchdown. According to his teammates, Chevigny shouted “that one was for the Gipper” after crossing the goal line. Still, the game remained tied late in the fourth quarter when Notre Dame had the ball for one final drive. From “Notre Dame Story,” by Francis Wallace:
“With the score at 6-all and three minutes to go, it was Notre Dame that was challenging. The ball was on the Army 20 with fourth down and five to go. In this confusion, the crowd was turbulent and both benches fluid, the tall sophomore end [Johnny O’Brien] came in. [Rockne] had already called the pass play and O’Brien’s entrance confirmed it.”
“’It was a regular reverse pass,’” [Notre Dame QB] Niemic said. “’I got good blocking and had plenty of time to throw. I saw O’Brien was in the clear and knew the play would be good.’” Niemiec took the ball, rolled out, saw that his line was holding, knew he could throw the ball if O’Brien was there – O’Brien was there – and now the ball, high and true and leading, up there for Johnny to grab it – he had it – was juggling it, was falling – but over the goal line with the ball and into immortality.”
“O’Brien came out of the game, returned to the bench and was hugged by Rockne. Legend has it that this was the only time Rockne hugged a player on the sidelines. The boys replay those games years after; and once around a lunch table at the Paramount commissary in Hollywood, Moon Mullins told us what he had said to his pal O’Brien: ‘I told him if he hadn’t caught it, he might as well have kept on going.’ ‘I juggled it and fell,’ O’Brien chuckled, ‘and didn’t know I was over the goal line.’”
Notre Dame beat Army for the Gipper, 12-6.
Buoyed by the 1928 Gipper game, O’Brien led Rockne’s 1929 squad to an undefeated season and national title. The Irish were looking to repeat in 1930, and would be aided by a new recruit from Sherman, Texas who had led the Bearcats to a state semifinal playoff appearance in 1927. The Fighting Irish did repeat as national champions in 1930, thanks to the “Gipper” culture installed by Knute Rockne, Gipper game hero Johnny O’Brien, and that new recruit…….a future Austin College coach from Sherman named Bill Pierce.
Chapter 4: Bill Pierce & Austin College (Tuesday 9/21)
Junior Sherman lineman Bill Pierce took the Bearcats all the way to the state semifinals in 1927. Their run ended at the hands of the legendary 1920s Waco High program of Paul Tyson, but Pierce and his teammates could still hang their heads high. 1927 remains the best season in Sherman Bearcat history.
By 1928, Pierce was a Sherman High senior determined to enroll in Notre Dame and play for Knute Rockne. On November 10, 1928, as Johnny O’Brien was ensuring a Notre Dame victory over Army for the Gipper, Bill Pierce was on the campus of Austin College. Pierce led his Bearcats to a 12-0 district win over McKinney at Cashion Field, where Hughey Gym stands today. After his Sherman graduation, Pierce headed to South Bend.
With Bill Pierce on the offensive line, Johnny O’Brien on the receiving corps, and Jack Chevigny assisting Knute Rockne with coaching duties, the Fighting Irish rolled to a 10-0 record in 1930. They repeated as national champions, defeating Army again along the way. Bill Pierce would later recall his biggest thrill at Notre Dame as my “assignment by Rockne to the first string for the Pittsburgh game in 1930. The first play of the game, with every man in the line blocking superbly, sent Schwartz cantering unmolested for a touchdown.”
The season was notable for another reason: the 1930 season opener was the first ever game in the new Notre Dame Stadium. Still in use today, the stadium is an American football landmark.
Rockne also spent 1930 reuniting with an old friend: Austin College Kangaroo Pete Cawthon. Cawthon, who had retired from coaching AC football after the 1927 season, was interested in returning to the profession. From the Roo Tale “Pete Cawthon & Knute Rockne:”
“Pete Cawthon won the [Texas Tech] head coaching job with the help of Rockne, who provided a strong endorsement of his friend to university administrators. Rockne always backed his close friends, especially devotees of his system at Notre Dame. Later that same year, Rockne journeyed to Dallas, a guest of SMU athletics department officials. At a dinner at the Dallas Country Club, Rockne gave a speech about football, Notre Dame, and the game itself. During a Q&A after the speech, Rockne was asked which coach he considered to be the best proponent of the Notre Dame system: ‘There’s a guy out at Texas Tech who knows more about the Notre Dame system than I do. His name is Pete Cawthon.’”
“Winter 1930 turned into Spring 1931, when Rockne hosted another coaching camp at Notre Dame. Pete Cawthon made the trip to South Bend, just as in years before. Cawthon was debating the idea of holding his own coaching school in Lubbock and wanted Rockne’s opinion. Rockne was enthusiastic, and even promised to attend. By the end of March, it was time to head back home. Cawthon was a guest in Rockne’s home on March 29th, two days before the Notre Dame coach was due to part for California to discuss a potential Hollywood movie.”
“’Why don’t you come along, Pete?,’ asked the Notre Dame skipper. Cawthon had already promised his wife that he would not fly. But after a phone call home, he agreed to travel by train and meet Rockne in Los Angeles. On March 30th, Cawthon said goodbye to Rockne and left Chicago for L.A. by train. One day later, Rockne’s plane departed Chicago bound for Los Angeles by way of Kansas City. They would never see each other again.”
“The problems with Rockne’s plane started very soon after takeoff from Kansas City. Poor design plus wear of the wood-framed aircraft put tremendous strain on the wing, leading to an increasingly large flutter and eventual separation from the fuselage. The crew and passengers never had a chance as the plane plummeted to a Kansas cornfield. No survivors. Cawthon got the news in Oklahoma during a layover on his way out west. Devastated and in shock, Cawthon made his way to Dallas to meet up with some of his former Austin College players who were now in the coaching ranks themselves.”
“’Rockne was so good to me…he helped me so much,’ said Cawthon.”
The untimely death of Knute Rockne in March of 1931 shocked the country and elevated the coach to legendary status. His was buried in South Bend, in the presence of Johnny O’Brien, Bill Pierce, and the rest of his Notre Dame squad.
O’Brien graduated in 1931, entered the coaching ranks, and became head football coach of Notre Dame’s sibling: the Saints of St. Edward’s University. Pierce graduated in 1933, entered the coaching ranks, and become head football coach of the college in his hometown of Sherman: the Kangaroos of Austin College. Their fates would collide in 1935, when Austin College met St. Edward’s with a TIAA conference title on the line.
The matchup between these two Rockne proteges would take place in Austin, Texas, at a football stadium called House Park.
Chapter 5: A Kangaroo Title at House Park
St. Edward’s University football coaches before World War II were a pipeline of Knute Rockne players from Notre Dame’s golden era. Jack Chevigny, who had scored the first of two Notre Dame touchdowns in the “Gipper” game, took over the reins of St. Edward’s football in the early 1930s. He led his Saints to a 1933 TIAA conference title, which included a win over Austin College. His reward for that success was the head coaching position at the University of Texas. In his first season as the UT skipper, Chevigny took his Longhorns to South Bend and defeated Notre Dame in the stadium of Knute Rockne, Bill Pierce and Johnny O’Brien.
St. Edward’s went looking for a Chevigny replacement and found another one in South Bend. Johnny O’Brien was offered the head coaching position on the hilltop and made the move from Notre Dame to St. Edward’s. He had high hopes of duplicating Chevigny’s efforts in 1935 but knew that the road to that conference title ran through Sherman.
Bill Pierce returned to Sherman after his Notre Dame graduation and secured the head football coaching position at Austin College in 1935. Pierce quickly molded a championship team of which his old coach Knute Rockne would have been proud. After a loss to eventual national champion SMU, Pierce’s AC squad got on a roll. McMurry fell 20-14. Daniel Baker lost 13-6. The Roos traveled to Brownwood and left with a tie against Howard Payne. AC defeated Texas Wesleyan 12-3 and dominated Stephen F. Austin 25-12. After Abilene Christian failed to end the AC winning streak, the Roos prepared for a trip to Austin to take on St. Edward’s University at House Park.
House Park Stadium sits at the corner of 15th & Lamar, near downtown Austin. Its use as an athletic park dates unofficially to the 19th century. The stadium gets its name from Edward House, an Austin resident who was a top American diplomat during World War I. House donated his land east of Shoal Creek to the city for use as a park and athletic field. St. Edward’s, which had no football field to call its own, was granted permission to use for home games. During the Saints glory years in the 1920s and 1930s, House Park was home.
It was here at House Park that St. Edward’s and Chevigny had won a TIAA conference title in 1933. But now it was 1935, and the Roos had their own Rockne protégé leading the way. Bill Pierce led his first place AC team onto the field at House Park and met his old Fighting Irish teammate Johnny O’Brien at midfield before kickoff. O’Brien had high hopes that his St. Edward’s squad might stymie the march to a title for Pierce and his Roos. The Saints had not lost a game at House Park all season.
But those hopes would be crushed. Austin College scored at will early, notching three first quarter touchdowns en route to a 26-7 victory. One of those scoring was star fullback Garvice Steen, who would later become head football coach of Austin College himself. Roos may be familiar with one of Coach Steen’s players in the late 1940s: Ralph “Slats” McCord, father of Martha Kate McCord.
With the win, Austin College wrapped up its first conference title since 1923. Unlike his former coach Knute Rockne, no halftime Gipper speech by Bill Pierce was needed to rally the troops. On that cool November day at House Park, there would be no St. Edward’s “Victory March.”
Chapter 6: Austin High School & the Victory March
Indiana native Mike Rosenthal knows South Bend. Rosenthal was an offensive lineman for the Fighting Irish in the 1990s, much like Bill Pierce in the 1930s. Rosenthal even played against Army at Notre Dame Stadium. In South Bend, he met Lindsay Rosenthal. Lindsay, an Irish volleyball player during her time in South Bend, is a graduate of Austin High. In addition to being a Maroon classmate of Austin High (future Austin College) QB Travis Stein, Lindsay’s father was an AHS athlete in the 1950s and her grandmother was a Maroon graduate in the 1920s. After South Bend, Mike & Lindsay briefly moved to New York, where Rosenthal was a member of the NFL’s New York Giants. One of Rosenthal’s Giant teammates? Former Austin College running back Aaron Kernek.
Lindsay eventually convinced Mike to return to her hometown of Austin. Perhaps one of her selling points was that Mike could root for Austin High and still enjoy the fight song of his Notre Dame days. Mike must have loved the idea, as he finished his degree at St. Edward’s, entered the coaching profession, and secured the head coaching position of Austin High football. He still leads Maroon football today. Yes indeed, if there’s one song in the Rosenthal household to which the family will never object, it’s Notre Dame’s Victory March played at House Park by the band from Austin High School.
Austin High School, established in 1881, is the oldest public high school in Texas. The Maroons of AHS are proud and “loyal forever” to their alma mater. The original Austin High building near 12th and Shoal Creek still stands today. 100 years ago, members of the Maroon football team of Austin High School would take the short walk from that building for practices and games at House Park. They’d often find the Saints of St. Edward’s waiting.
St. Edward’s University had no football field to call its own, and Austin High was more than willing to share facilities. The Catholic University on the hilltop also had a high school prep school, which frequently competed against Austin High at House Park. As the years progressed, the cultures of these two institutions began to merge. AHS students would graduate and enroll at St. Edward’s, returning to compete against schools like Austin College at House Park. St. Edward’s students would often coach at Austin High School, leading Maroon athletes on the same field as their collegiate days.
The influence of St. Edward’s on Austin High is best heard when listening to the Maroon fight song. Pay close attention: it’s the Notre Dame fight song, which traveled by way of South Bend to St. Edward’s before finally arriving at Austin High School. Notre Dame’s Victory March is perhaps the most famous fight song in America. Written in 1908 by two Notre Dame graduates, it was played in South Bend during Knute Rockne’s days as a fighting Irish wide receiver in 1913. Rockne enthusiastically encouraged the song during his championship runs as Notre Dame coach, and Rockne proteges brought the song to St. Edward’s in the 1930s. Soon, Austin High took Victory March as its own. With a twist.
The informal lyrics of Austin High’s version of Victory March are a bit controversial, if not funny, for a group of underage high school students. The AHS version goes like this:
“Beer beer for old Austin High Bring out the whiskey, bring out the rye Send those freshmen out for gin And don’t let a sober senior in We never stagger, we never fall We sober up on wood alcohol All ye saints of Austin High are out on the drunk again.”
The entire song is humorous. But it’s that last line which is the most significant. “All ye SAINTS of Austin High” is a tip of the cap to St. Edward’s, and by extension Notre Dame University.
And the ties that unite Notre Dame, St. Edward’s, Austin College, and Austin High School will be a part of the evenings of Marc Parrish & Bethann Bernstein Eccles tomorrow.
Chapter 7: Marc Parrish & Bethann Bernstein Eccles
A small community of St. Edward’s Catholic families located just outside of Austin, TX suffered the death of Knute Rockne more than most. After the tragedy, the community’s citizens took a vote and decided to change the name of their town to Rockne. When you visit Rockne, TX, be sure to allocate some time to see the Knute Rockne museum. It showcases the life of the former Notre Dame coaching legend. I visited last month and made sure to give Rockne a Roo parting gift.
I’m a Texas kid. Born in Houston, raised in College Station, educated in Sherman, career and family in Austin. I’m 100% Texas. Well, except for that one brief period.
Between 1971 and 1974, I resided in South Bend, IN. My father taught at IU-South Bend for three years when I was a toddler; we lived just a mile from the Notre Dame stadium of Knute Rockne and Kangaroo Bill Pierce. But in 1974, about the time that Rudy Ruettiger finally won admission to Notre Dame, Linda & Paul Parrish got jobs in Aggieland. Just weeks after my little brother was born in South Bend, we returned home to Texas.
Today, Dianne and I call Austin home. My son Alex is a member of the Bowie HS marching band in Austin. I’m on the “pit crew,” one of many parents helping to ensure a successful halftime performance on the football field. Tonight, the Bowie Bulldogs take on Austin High School at House Park. I’ll be on the same field where Bill Pierce and Johnny O’Brien competed in 1935, where Knute Rockne & Pete Cawthon talked football in 1925, and where many Notre Dame alums directly influenced by the famous Gipper speech called home. Notre Dame alum and AHS coach Mike Rosenthal will also be there, leading his Maroons against our Bulldogs. And I’ll hear the Austin High School Band play “Victory March,” reminding me of my earliest memories in South Bend.
It all sounds like a fairly good way to end this story.
But perhaps the best way to end this story will be to take a selfie with Bethann Bernstein Eccles. Bethann and I are both Roos from the Class of 1992. Like my son, her son will also be on the field; he’s a punter/kicker/QB on the Austin High Maroons football team. Like me, Bethann will also be on the field of House Park tonight; she is a member of the AHS tunnel crew. Bethann and I will both end this week at House Park, the historic Austin, TX stadium that birthed this “Notre Dame Roo Tale.”
See, I TOLD ALL Y’ALL that a selfie with Bethann was the best way to end this tale. Bethann, see you tonight!
