Leading up to Notre Dame’s meeting with Wisconsin at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Sept. 25, we will explore some of the many strands that connect the Windy City with the Golden Dome. Today, a look at just some of the figures who define this unique connection.
A change of plans
Two of the most impactful Chicagoans related to Notre Dame athletics, in retrospect, were John Plant and John Devine, track and field teammates of a young Knute Rockne in the first decade of the 20th century. Plant and Devine were headed to enroll at the school and encouraged Rockne to join them.
“Whoever heard of Notre Dame?” Rockne quipped, knowing full well that the school had developed a strong reputation in baseball, and in 1909 had beaten Michigan for the first time in football. Rockne, who had been saving money for four years after high school while working at the Chicago Post Office, had his sights set on the University of Illinois.
But Plant and Devine persisted, and athletics were a secondary consideration in their pitch. Campus employment was plentiful and easy to obtain, they argued.
And, after graduation, South Bend was a thriving hub of industry that offered ample career opportunities. Rockne finally agreed.
Pair of kindred spirits
After graduation in 1914, Rockne dove into his coaching responsibilities. One of them was tackle Charlie Bachman, out of Chicago’s Englewood High School. Like Rockne, Bachman excelled in track and field, eventually holding the world record in the discus throw.
In football, the pair found themselves kindred spirits, continually dissecting the action and trying to design “the perfect play.”
Bachman had a meteoric rise as a head coach. After one season at Northwestern, he coached Kansas State for eight years, followed by five at Florida. Rockne would time his family’s Miami vacations with stops at Gainesville to brainstorm.
After Rockne’s death in 1931, Bachman would go on to lead Michigan State for 13 seasons through 1946, setting up the Spartans’ entry into the Big Ten in 1950.
From the stockyards to campus
The Notre Dame campus, 90 miles from Chicago, had drawn students from the “city of broad shoulders” ever since Notre Dame’s founding in 1842. In the early 20th century, that included students attending Notre Dame’s grade school (called the minims). One year, 68 of the 110 “minims” were from Chicago.
In 1910, one of them was sixth-grader Norm Barry, whose father had emigrated from Ireland’s County Cork and became a broker in the Chicago Stockyards. Barry showed promise both as a student and an athlete and eventually became a varsity football player.
Barry was a teammate of George Gipp from 1918-20. Barry was a versatile weapon as a rusher and passer, and he caught the final pass thrown by Gipp in 1920, when the Irish went 9‑0 and gained national recognition.
Barry left Notre Dame with a law degree in 1921, and like so many of Rockne’s players, coached football. One season, he had the distinction of coaching two teams to their respective championships — DeLaSalle Institute in the prestigious Chicago Catholic League, and the Chicago Cardinals in the struggling National Football League.
Away from football, Barry excelled as an attorney and became a prominent Chicago judge and Illinois state legislator.
You’ve got a new name
In the late 1920s, while Barry was coaching at DeLaSalle, there was a somewhat clumsy, oversized lad roaming the halls, doing his best to keep up in school while attempting to play violin in the school orchestra.
One day, Barry approached the strapping student and asked, “Why aren’t you on my football team?”
“I don’t think my parents would allow me,” came the response.
“Well, let’s go talk with them,” said the coach.
“That’s not going to work — they don’t speak English.”
Barry would not be deterred. Once the parents’ objections were overcome, the 200-pound youngster joined the football team. At a practice, Barry scolded him.
“You’re having trouble moving this 160-pounder … and you’re a moose!” The legend that became Edward “Moose” Krause took hold.
As an attorney, Barry helped the family Americanize their name from the Lithuanian Kriauciunas to Krause. And most importantly, Barry put Krause within the sphere of Knute Rockne. Moose entered Notre Dame in the fall of 1930 and played freshman football in Rockne’s final year.
Krause played three varsity seasons under Rockne’s successor, Hunk Anderson, starting at left tackle in 1932 and 1933, and earning All-America honors. He found even more success on the basketball court, where he was a three-time All-American.
He would become the face and spirit of Notre Dame athletics for decades, serving as director of athletics from 1949-81.
The city’s greatest
Krause succeeded Frank Leahy as Notre Dame’s athletic director when Leahy stepped down from the post to focus solely on coaching football. Leahy had coached some outstanding players from Chicago, including lineman George Connor from DeLaSalle, a captain of the 1947 national champions, two-time consensus All-American and first-round pick of the Chicago Bears, for whom he was a four-time All-Pro.
Leahy’s final season of 1953 brought the crowning glory for Notre Dame players from Chicago, when senior halfback Johnny Lattner, who had prepped at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, won the Heisman Trophy. He led the Irish to a 9-0-1 record, barely missing another national championship and finishing second in national rankings.
After a brief NFL career, Lattner went on to become a Chicago restaurateur and businessman. Staying close to his roots, he made his Heisman Trophy available to numerous local charities for fundraising purposes.
“People are fascinated by it,” said Lattner, who died in 2016. “They want to touch it, have their picture taken with it.”
Of football and music
In the decades since then, more football stars from Chicagoland have played pivotal roles for the Irish. Most notably, Chris Zorich came out of Vocational High School to become a national champion (1988), consensus All-American (1989-90) and Lombardi Award winner (1990) before playing for the Bears.
Offensive lineman Tom Thayer went on to an eight-year career with the Bears and is now the team’s broadcast analyst. Safety and kick returner Tom Zbikowski was a fan favorite and played several NFL seasons. Linebacker Darius Fleming was a Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots.
A walk-on backup defensive lineman from Chicago’s St. Ignatius High School, Peter Schivarelli, went on to become the longtime manager of the iconic band Chicago. Schivarelli is a major philanthropist, supporting Notre Dame, the Notre Dame Band and numerous charities.
2021 Rockne Awards
The fifth annual Knute Rockne Spirit of Sports Awards Celebration will take place on Friday, Sept. 24 in Chicago. It will honor the lives of Lattner, Bachman, Barry and Krause, with their families present. Schivarelli will receive the Rockne Perseverance Award and Fleming the Rockne Champion Award.
More information is available at www.RockneSociety.org.
Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jlefebvre@blueandgold.com.
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