Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 30, 2024 51 tional speed he goes down under punts and seldom fails to get his man." Collins, Cerney and other team mem- bers from Chicagoland had circled the Nov. 22 game at Northwestern as a home- coming of sorts. Just days before the game, the site was changed from the campus field in Evanston to the newly constructed (and not yet finished) Grant Park Stadium, later to be named Soldier Field. There, in the first major sport- ing event at the massive new stadium, 45,000 gathered to watch what became Notre Dame's closest game all season. Clinging to a 7-6 lead in the fourth quarter, the Irish were hard-pressed to hold off the determined Wildcats. It took an interception by Elmer Layden returned 45 yards for a touchdown to secure the 13-6 victory and keep Notre Dame unbeaten. In the Rose Bowl against Pop Warner- coached Stanford, Notre Dame held a 13-3 third-quarter lead when Layden launched a 50-yard punt into the wait- ing arms of Stanford's Fred Solomon. But the Cardinal quarterback bobbled the ball and it bounced away from him. Solomon dove for the ball, but Collins brushed him aside and Irish end Ed Hunsinger flew past, picking up the ball and racing 20 yards for a decisive touch- down in the 27-10 victory that clinched the national championship. After graduation, Collins spent a year as line coach at Chattanooga, then took over as head coach at North Carolina, where he guided the Tar Heels to 38 vic- tories over the next eight seasons. By far the best year was 1929, when Col- lins' team went 9-1, losing only a 19-12 decision to Georgia. The Tar Heels out- scored the opposition 346-59. Not many teams had a better record than Carolina that year, but one of them was Notre Dame at 9-0. And at left end for Rockne's national champions? The young man who owed his life to his cou- rageous older brother — Ed Collins. Upon Collins' death in 1977 in Ridge- wood, N.J., fellow Monogram Club leader Joseph Abbott said: "Chuck Col- lins was regarded not only as a great ath- lete but also one of the most outstanding alumni of our great university." ✦ For more informa on, please visit: www.RockneSociety.org Throughout 2024, the Knute Rockne Memorial Society will remember and celebrate the centennial of the 1924 Notre Dame na onal champions, featuring Coach Rockne, The Four Horsemen and The Seven Mules. Watch for updates! Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jim@ndfootballhistory.com As head coach, Collins led North Carolina to a 9-1 record in 1929. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA