Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IRISH ECHOES JIM LEFEBVRE 94 MARCH 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED I t may be hard for some current-day Notre Dame football fans to under- stand just how far the Fighting Irish had fallen in the late 1950s and early 1960s. "For eight long — and for Notre Dame fans, miserable — years, teams from the school made famous by Knute Rockne struggled in a wasteland of mediocrity," Joe Doyle of the South Bend Tribune wrote in 1964. "Only twice in those eight years — and not once in the last five — had the once-feared Fighting Irish posted even a winning season." When Ara Parseghian was named coach for the 1964 season, "not even the most rabid of Irish football fans dared hope for much more than a break-even season. Parseghian himself, a professed optimist, privately figured a winning season (6-4) was an attainable goal." Parseghian's special strength, it seemed, was getting players in the posi- tion where they could flourish, then build- ing them up with relentless positivity. So it was in 1964 with sophomore halfback Nick Eddy, a long way from his home in Tracy, Calif. Parseghian saw something special in the 6-foot, 195-pound Eddy — a combination of physical power and breakaway speed. Eddy died this past New Year's Eve at age 81 in Modesto, Calif. "Nick was a perfect example of the tremendous talent that was already on hand when Ara arrived," teammate Steve Quinn said. "Ara must have been licking his chops when he got in to spring practice and realized the talent he had inherited. "John Huarte, Jack Snow, Nick Rassas, Nick Eddy and many more great players just needing someone to mold them into a team. Nick was a big, strong and fast running back. A great football player, and a great and humble teammate." Eddy won the starting job at right half and was ready to go when the Irish opened their season at Wisconsin, just a year removed from the Rose Bowl. It wasn't a memorable day for Eddy. He rushed 5 times for 16 yards and dropped a pair of passes from Huarte, a fellow Cali- fornian. Fortunately, Huarte completed enough passes to Snow and the Irish de- fense held three Badger running backs to 17 yards on 17 carries in a suffocating 31-7 victory to launch the Parseghian era. Two weeks later, in the 6,500-foot altitude of the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Irish found themselves trailing after Huarte missed Snow for what would have been a long touchdown. That's when Eddy came up with his first big play of the year, speeding 46 yards off left tackle for the tying touchdown in an eventual 34-7 victory. The revitalized Irish won their first six games of the 1964 season by an av- erage of 26 points, ascending to a No. 1 ranking. On Nov. 7, they met lowly Pittsburgh (2-3-2) at Pitt Stadium in a game the Irish would win just 17-15. The highlight was Huarte's 91-yard pass to Eddy, which set a record for longest touchdown pass in school history. Eddy went on to finish second on the team in rushing with 490 yards on 98 carries for a 5.0-yard average and 5 touchdowns. He often lined up as flanker and finished with 352 yards on 16 receptions for a hefty 22-yard aver- age and a pair of touchdowns. The Irish went 9-1, losing only to Southern Cal on the season's final day. "Nick was an elusive back with great vision and anticipation," recalled George Goeddeke, the starting center at the time. "He seemed to know where the opening would be, he'd make a lateral move and find the hole. And he had deceptive speed and was also a good receiver." As a junior in 1965, Eddy led the Irish in rushing with 572 yards and 4 touch- downs while adding 233 receiving yards with 2 scores. But as a team, the 7-2-1 finish left a great hunger for the Irish heading into the 1966 season. In the season opener versus Bob Gri- ese and Purdue, the sophomore passing combination of Terry Hanratty and Jim Seymour captured most of the headlines. But it was Eddy's scintillating 96-yard kickoff return, led by blocks from fel- low backs Rocky Bleier and Larry Conjar, that wiped out an early Purdue lead and set the stage for a 26-14 victory … and a run to the national championship. Eddy was bothered by a shoulder in- jury when Notre Dame hosted Duke in the final home game Nov. 12. He raced 77 yards for a touchdown to start a 64-0 romp, before Parseghian removed him to rest for the monumental game at Michigan State the next week. But when exiting the train at East Lansing, a misplaced set of steps caused Eddy to lose his balance and further in- jure his shoulder. He had to watch help- lessly — joined by Hanratty and Goed- deke early in the game — as the Irish tied the Spartans 10-10 in the epic "Game of the Century." In the season finale at Southern Cal, a 51-0 Irish romp, Eddy came back to rush for 55 yards on 11 carries, catch 4 passes and score a touchdown. Eddy finished the campaign with 553 rushing yards on just 78 carries for an astounding 7.1-yard average, approach- ing George Gipp's record of 8.1 yards per carry in 1920. He scored 8 rushing touchdowns. On a team that featured Nick Eddy Was A Key Part Of Notre Dame's Turnaround Under Ara Parseghian Eddy helped the Fighting Irish achieve a stellar 25-3-2 record during his three varsity seasons. FILE PHOTO