Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/123805
Under the Dome (Blue) competing against the backups (Gold). The inaugural event sees the Blue win 33-14 despite the efforts of freshman Gold quarterback Joe Theismann, listed at 6-0, 163 pounds. Theismann completes 20 of 43 passes for 277 yards and adds 33 yards rushing versus the No. 1 defense. While Theismann's performance won't move him ahead of third-year starter and Heisman Trophy candidate Terry Hanratty, who completes nine passes in the game to fellow senior Jim Seymour for 189 yards and a score for the Blue team, it does prompt Parseghian to make a position change. No. 2 quarterback Coley O'Brien had come off the bench for an injured Hanratty to help save the 1966 national title with a rally at No. 2 Michigan State and a victory at Pac-8 champ USC. But to groom a 1969 successor to Hanratty, Parseghian shifts O'Brien to running back, where he would start that fall, so that Theismann can receive more practice reps. 40 Years Ago: May 5, 1973 On the same day Secretariat sets a Kentucky Derby record with a 1:59.40 time — a mark that still stands — Notre Dame's Blue-Gold Game has an attendance of 18,374. The No. 1 Blue team cruises to an easy 45-6 victory after Kevin White served as the athletics director at Notre Dame from 2000-08 prior to fulfilling the same role at Duke University. photo courtesy Notre Dame Media Relations falling behind when Al Samuel fumbles the opening kickoff to set up an early score for the Gold. Samuel — playing in place of 1972 leading rusher Eric Penick, who is injured — atones with a 78-yard touchdown run to put the Blue ahead for good, and he would finish with 119 yards on 14 carries. The other starting halfback, sophomore-to-be Art Best, carries 21 times for 117 yards. Starting quarterback Tom Clements attempts only 10 passes and has two intercepted, but he completes six others for 108 yards, highlighted by a 19-yard touchdown to tight end Dave Casper, who started at offensive tackle as a sophomore and junior. The Irish are trying to bounce back from their first three-loss season (8-3), which culminated with a 40-6 thumping from Ne- braska in the Orange Bowl, and lowest Associated Press poll finish (No. 14) under 10th-year head coach Ara Parseghian. 5 Years Ago: May 31, 2008 Out of the blue, Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White, 57, resigns after eight years with the Fighting Irish to take the same post at Duke University, which AD Joe Avella had left to move to LSU. An unpaid consultant to help Duke fill the position, White becomes the top candidate during a May 28 advisory meeting in New York with Duke president Richard Broadhead and search committee chair Roy Bostock. Notre Dame deputy athletics director Missy Conboy is named interim athletics director while the school begins its search for a successor. — Lou Somogyi