Customer Reviews

Rockne of Notre Dame: The Making of a Football Legend

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The most enjoyable sports book I've read since, well, "Stirring Football Stories", this book gives the reader not only such favorite moments in the history of the game as the winning forward pass (Dorais to Rockne, against Army), the Gipper, the Four Horsemen, and back-to-back undefeated seasons, but insights into the life and times of Notre Dame's legendary coach. Rockne championed & embodied the immigrant struggle for a place in the sun - the "fighting Irish" being a moniker bestowed on a polyglot group of newcomers to the American dream. On the gridiron it was possible to prove yourself - and show your talents - on an equal footing with older, more established schools and traditions. This conscious inclusion of the larger story gives this book an important place on the shelf, alongside Rockne's own unfinished autobiography, "We Remember Rockne", "Knute Rockne, All American", and other memoirs and studies.

While acknowleging the legends surrounding one of the greatest coaches in any sport anywhere, but not attempting to pass them off as fact, Ray Robinson does not stoke the inspirational fires of the mythological demigod Knute Rockne. Still and all, we see Rockne as he developed from a boy growing up in Chicago to the young man at Notre Dame eventually becoming the coach who, in turn, became larger than life.

Mostly, the reader is invited to visit a time when Knute Rockne was arguably the brightest star among the numerous sports heroes of the '20's. While Irish, Catholics and especially Irish-Catholics were almost universally reviled and the power of the Klan was at its height, the immigrant from Voss, Norway lead Notre Dame to the forefront of college football's national stage.

There are occasional glimpses of Rockne off the football field and I, personally, would have liked to have gotten to know more about Rockne the man. However, this is, first and foremost, a story about Knute's lifelong relationship with football.

This book is designed for college football fans, especially fans of Notre Dame. Notre Dame detractors may also get something out of the book, if for no other reason than it makes it a little easier to understand why Notre Dame football is what it is today.

My ole man went to Notre Dame... so I've been steeped in the rich legacy of Fightin' Irish Football. This book is by far one of the better books on Notre Dame football in its heyday under Knute Rockne who forged that legacy. The team that brought us the forward pass left a rich history worth examing. This book captures the essence of Rockne, his leadership style, his character and his ambition to excel.

I am currently researching source material for a book on the construction of Notre Dame Stadium. This book has a lot of really great material and while I have read most everything written on the Rockne Era there were several anecdotes that were described here that I had never heard or found before. It would have been much better if I could know what were the sources was for the stories. The description of Rockne's Funeral and death were well written and made me feel like I was there. The author really gave you the feeling of the man underneath the legend. It also showed you that in the roaring twenties how big this man actually was. The real man was bigger than the legend.