Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IRISH ECHOES JIM LEFEBVRE 42 MAY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JIM LEFEBVRE W ell before Notre Dame be- came prominent in football, it had established a tradition as a baseball stronghold. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, numerous talented ballplayers were drawn to the campus with its many diamonds and high level of competition. And the next stop for dozens was profes- sional baseball, in both the minor and major leagues. It happened just a few games into the 1910 season, when Notre Dame's star shortstop Alex McCar- thy left the team to sign a pro con- tract. As The South Bend Tribune noted, "Once again, the school is an incubator for the professional leagues." The varsity rebounded and finished with a 19-3 record. Fueled by that success, a group of Fighting Irish ballplayers set out on a barnstorming tour of the Midwest that summer. While in Michigan's Upper Pen- insula, the team suffered injuries and found the going tough. So, it enlisted the help of two local players from the Keweenaw Peninsula, who continued on with the team for the remainder of the tour. When it was over, one of them — catcher Wil- bur Gray (alternately called Billy or Dolly) — enrolled at Notre Dame and excelled in baseball while earning his law degree over the next four years as a classmate of Knute Rockne. In the summer of 1916, Gray was back in his hometown of Calumet, Mich., when he ran into his old friend, George Gipp. The subject of college came up, and Gray told the 21-year-old Gipp he should think of enrolling. "I'm too old to try school again," Gipp responded. "Besides, I don't have any money." Gray persisted, noting that a lot of fellows (like Rockne) put in some time working after high school before try- ing college. Further, he said, there were plenty of jobs on and off campus to pay for school. Gray and some other friends finally prevailed in persuading Gipp, and their talented buddy headed off to Notre Dame. Gipp didn't get involved in baseball as he had intended, but he did approach f re s h m a n fo o tba l l coa c h Fre e m a n Fitzgerald in the fall of 1916 to ask him what it would take to join the squad, with little experience in the sport. Fitzgerald could recognize talent, later calling Gipp "the best natural football player that I ever saw." In particular, he could see Gipp becoming a great kicker and gave him a few pointers to straighten out his boots. Over the next five seasons, of course, Gipp more than proved the merits of his visit with Fitzgerald, becoming the highly decorated star of Notre Dame football while leading the team to national acclaim, includ- ing undefeated seasons in 1919 and 1920. He started a pipeline of play- ers from Copper Country to Notre Dame. They included lineman Heart- ley "Hunk" Anderson (1918-21), who would become Rockne's close friend, assistant coach and ulti- mately his successor as head coach in 1931. Others were starting cen- ter Fred "Ojay" Larson, backs Percy Wilcox and Larry Danbom and 1934 captain Dom Vairo. A Chicagoan who became a turn- of-the-century Notre Dame base- ball standout was shortstop Robert "Bobby" Lynch. After graduation in 1902, Lynch spent the next de- cade with a succession of high minor league clubs — the St. Paul Saints, Atlanta Crackers and Memphis Egyptians. Each year another stop — Indianapolis, Toronto, Rochester, N.Y.; Evansville, Ind.; Terre Haute, Ind.; and Eau Claire, Wis. Finally, in 1913, Lynch found himself the playing manager of the Green Bay Bays of the Wisconsin- Illinois League, and he made Green Bay home the rest of his life. He married a local woman, started a fam- ily, and organized and led a succession of baseball leagues and teams. His first business was a cigar store (on the or- der of South Bend's Hullie and Mike's), which included a four-lane bowling al- ley and a couple of pool tables. He also sold a selection of sporting goods. Lynch's on Washington Street be- came the favored meeting place of Green Bay sporting types. It was there you stopped to hear the latest "dope" on the local teams, which included dozens of company, brewery and small-town football squads along with the well-es- tablished teams of East High and West High. After Fighting Irish baseball star Bobby Lynch graduated in 1902, he went on to play professionally. However, some of his greatest achievements came as a Notre Dame promoter and recruiter. PHOTO COURTESY KNUTE ROCKNE MEMORIAL SOCIETY Early Success In Baseball Helped Draw Gridiron Stars To Notre Dame