Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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58 PRESEASON 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED IRISH ECHOES JIM LEFEBVRE I n his early years guiding Notre Dame football, Knute Rockne was a man of many roles. He was athletics di- rector. He coached the track team. And when it came to football, he was said to always carry a roll of tickets in one jacket pocket and a roll of tape and bot- tle of iodine in the other. Ticket manager. Trainer. He was prepared to do it all. But over time, the success of the football program allowed Rockne, by the mid-1920s, to hire a business manager for the athletics de- partment, as well as personal secretary, Ruth Faulkner. And he had more assistance on the football field as well. For the 1924 sea- son, two former star Notre Dame linemen were on hand to help Rockne coach the varsity. Heartley "Hunk" Anderson, who had followed George Gipp from Calumet in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Notre Dame and was the starting left guard from 1919-21, was still playing some pro ball with the Chicago Bears. But he arrived on campus Sept. 22 and Rockne put him to work handling the guards on one corner of Cartier Field. Tom Lieb, who played tackle on the 1921 and 1922 teams and was one of Rockne's greatest track stars, guided the tackles on the opposite corner, while Rockne drilled all other positions. Lieb grew up pitching rocks at the quarry his family owned in Faribault, Minn. He became one of the world's best discus throwers and won the bronze medal at the 1924 Paris Olym- pics before returning to cam- pus to act as Rockne's primary assistant. Rockne also had the 1924 freshman team well staffed. George Keogan, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career coaching the Notre Dame varsity bas- ketball team the next two decades, served as freshman coach. He was as- sisted by George Vergara, a guard on the 1922 and 1923 Fighting Irish football teams. But it was Rockne's choice of a team trainer that showed he was ahead of his time. At a moment when college foot- ball was a virtually all-white enterprise, he enlisted a Black man named Verly Smith to care for the injuries of the Four Horsemen and their teammates. It would be another 30 years before Notre Dame had a Black player in its football lineup. Verly Smith was born in Attica, Ind., in 1886 and moved with his family to Lorain, Ohio, before eventually landing in South Bend. S m i t h 's fa t h e r, Rev. G. D. Smith, presided over "the first Negro church in South Bend," ac- cording to the South Bend Tri- bune upon Rev. Smith's death in 1933. He also pastored a San- dusky, Ohio, church for 23 years and was elected president of the Baptist Ministerial Association. Yo u n g Ve rly wa s d raw n to music and worked as a drum- m e r a n d n i g h tc l u b o p e ra to r as a young adult. But athletic performance always fascinated him. When he lived in Benton Harbor, Mich., he found his way into area boxing camps. He is said to have served in the corner of heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey for some of his fights in the region. Smith loved fine clothes, a good cigar and an impressive vehicle. When he purchased an Empire automobile in 1910, "he has the distinction of being the first colored man" in South Bend to own a car, the Indianapolis Re- corder reported. Knute Rockne Broke Bold Ground With Choice Of 1924 Team's Trainer CELEBRATING THE 1924 CHAMPIONS Verly Smith was hired by Knute Rockne to care for the injuries of the Four Horsemen and their team- mates, three decades prior to Notre Dame featuring a Black player in its football lineup. Smith is thought to be the first Black employee of the university. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME ARCHIVES Verly Smith's methods — including his Four Horsemen liniment — were considered on the cutting edge in the field of athletic training. PHOTO COURTESY SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE