Notre Dame’s Future Ring Of Honor

In 2010, Notre Dame began its “Ring of Honor” at the Purcell Pavilion to recognize its basketball luminaries, male or female, who are no longer in the game.

This weekend, two-time consensus All-American Troy Murphy’s career from 1998-2001 was recognized, and rightfully earned him a place with the other seven, beginning with Luke Harangody and Ruth Riley in 2010, followed by Austin Carr (2011), Adrian Dantley (2012), Skylar Diggins (2013), Richard “Digger” Phelps (2014) and Tom Hawkins (2015).

I used to suspect that this was limited to those who had played since 1968, or when the then Athletic & Convocation Center (now Joyce Center) opened, but that became dispelled when Hawkins, who played from 1956-59 in the Fieldhouse, was rightfully included.

With that in mind, here is my “Final Four” — plus a fifth personal favorite — of conspicuous absences from the Ring of Honor who in the future should be given heavy support for inclusion because of their contributions not only to Notre Dame basketball lore but to the school overall:

1. Edward “Moose” Krause (1930-34)

Not having Moose in Notre Dame’s Ring of Honor is like omitting Babe Ruth from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Krause is the alpha in the program’s history and was the second college basketball player ever to be selected as a three-time consensus All-American — with Purdue’s John Wooden the first.

A game changer who helped revolutionize the game, his dominance in the post helped establish the three-second rule in the lane during his junior season. Krause was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Oh yeah, he also was Notre Dame’s basketball coach before turning his full attention to his duties as the athletic director from 1949-81, and his fund-raising efforts enabled the school in 1968 to open the Joyce ACC.

The honor would be posthumous (he died in 1992), and Krause does have a statue just outside the Joyce Center. Yet “Mr. Notre Dame” should also have his banner in the Ring of Honor.

2. George “The Doctor” Keogan (1923-43)

Krause’s head coach was hired by Knute Rockne to coach basketball at Notre Dame — after Keogan’s football team at Valparaiso gave Rockne a scare in 1920 with a 3-0 halftime lead before losing. A superb teacher and innovator, including promoting the use of the pivot play, Keogan’s methods were reportedly even studied by 1934-43 South Bend Central High School coach John Wooden, who later would win 10 national titles at UCLA.

A winner of 77 percent of his games at Notre Dame, Keogan’s 1927 and 1936 Notre Dame teams were awarded Helms Foundation national titles, before the NCAA Tournament came into existence. He died in office, suffering a fatal heart attack on Feb. 17, 1943, at age 53. In 1961, Keogan was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in only its third year of existence.

His a name too frequently gets overlooked in Notre Dame annals, and it needs to be immortalized in the program’s Ring of Honor. A special ceremony with him and Krause being recognized together would be fitting.

3. Dick Rosenthal (1951-54)

Like Krause, he served as the athletics director at Notre Dame (1987-95), and it came during the most recent halcyon era of the football program, and also at a time when many of the Olympic Sports began to receive better financial support and upgrade.

Overshadowed was Rosenthal’s All-American basketball career in which he helped lead the Irish to back-to-back Elite Eight appearances as a junior and senior in 1953 and 1954. The only other time that occurred for the men’s program was 1978 and 1979.

The 1953 season was the first time Notre Dame allowed itself to enter the NCAA Tournament and it won two games before losing to that season’s national title winner, Indiana. The following year, Rosenthal propelled an 18-game winning streak — still the school record — highlighted by the upset of No. 1 Indiana in the tournament before losing in the Elite Eight. As a senior, he became the first Irish player to average 20 points per game in a season (20.7).

4. Kelly Tripucka (1977-81)

The ringleader of the greatest four-year era in Notre Dame basketball history. During his four years, the Irish spent only six weeks outside the Associated Press top 10 (never lower than No. 14) and finished the four regular seasons as high as No. 4 and only as low as No. 9. In his freshman year, Tripucka was named the regional MVP while helping the Irish to their lone Final Four, and the next season the Irish were back in the Elite Eight.

Tripucka earned All-America recognition each of his last three seasons and had a proclivity to shine when the stage was the grandest. This included 15 second-half points as a freshman to upset No. 1 Marquette in 1978, a 28-point effort in a two-point win over 25-0 and No. 1 DePaul in 1980, and a 30-point performance as a senior to win at No. 1 Kentucky.

During his career, the 6-5 Tripucka shot 54.8 percent from the field and 79.8 percent from the foul line. Among the 56 all-time 1,000-point scorers at Notre Dame (senior Zach Auguste became the most recent), only Dantley surpassed Tripucka in both categories: 56.2 percent from the field and 80.0 percent from the foul line).

My star fifth starter here would be 1972-74 center John Shumate because of the way he led Notre Dame out of the 6-20 doldrums in 1971-72 (when he couldn’t play because of health reasons) and into the national consciousness the next two seasons, including a 24-2 regular season in 1973-74. The consensus first-team All-American averaged 22 points and 13 rebounds per game as a junior, and 24 points and 11 rebounds per contest as a senior.

Starting with second half of his junior year, Shumate propelled his troops to victories over Kansas (twice) and Marquette (twice) — both of which made the Final Four his senior year — at St. John’s, versus Louisville and North Carolina on neutral courts, at South Carolina, at Indiana, at Ohio State, at Michigan State and at Kentucky … and helped snap UCLA’s NCAA-record 88-game winning streak.

Although he played only two varsity seasons before graduating, Shumate was a prime catalyst who resurrected the Irish into a top-five program.

Guard David Rivers from 1984-88 would be an excellent sixth man for the men, and the dynamic women’s tandem of Beth Morgan and Katryna Gaither (1993-97), who led the first women’s Final Four as seniors while each surpassed 2,000 career points, could be inducted together the way Krause/Keogan could be.