Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/421584
vor and charisma provided an exciting burst of ambition into the future, from enacting Civil Rights to putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. To many, that atmosphere was shat- tered in November 1963 when Kennedy was assassinated, even though his vi- sions of the future would come to frui- tion. Yet while one Camelot met a tragic end and was commemo- rated with the Eternal Flame at his grave site, a new one began to take root in the month ahead on the campus of Notre Dame when another young, dy- namic leader, 40-year-old football coach Ara Par- seghian, took the first steps toward rebuilding a leg- end. "This team had a fire that blazed to the sky in the past," Parseghian told his new Notre Dame football team in their first meeting after his December 1963 hiring. "Per- haps the flame has burned low of late, but it is not out. … It's not going to be easy, but if you want it badly enough, we can do it." From 1956-63, Notre Dame's football record was 34-45 — including 2-7 in 1963. Critics blamed it on a de-emphasis of the sport by the school so that the university would be renowned more for its academics. Yet the former Northwest- ern head coach Parseghian, with less personnel options there, still defeated the Fighting Irish all four years he faced them from 1959-62. After eight years of Notre Dame sur- viving on the perfume of a vanished flower, the seeds of a prosperous new garden germinated in 1964 and the cam- pus began to be caught up in its own version of Camelot. PERFECT TIMING Parseghian's hiring coincided with college football shifting to players not having to line up on both sides of the ball. A separate unit could be created on offense and another for defense. The first objective was creating esprit de corps. That meant the maligned veterans would not be ig- nored in an effort to "build for the future," yet at the same time the young talent would be inserted where most needed. Among the veterans pulled off the scrap heap were senior quarterback John Huarte (third team at the end of 1963 with no monogram) and reserve halfback Jack Snow (three carries in 1963), who shifted to wide receiver. While determining the unheralded Huarte would be his quarterback, Par- seghian shifted several other skill posi- tion players on offense — Nick Rassas, Tony Carey and Tom Longo — to the defensive backfield. Nine of the 22 starters on offense and defense would be seniors, led by team captain Jim Carroll at middle linebacker, yet the four-man defensive line would be comprised of four sophomores: fu- ture first-round NFL Draft picks Alan Page, Kevin Hardy, Tom Regner, plus 1964 NOTRE DAME RESULTS Opponent Result at Wisconsin W, 31-7 Purdue W, 34-15 at Air Force W, 34-7 UCLA W, 24-0 Stanford W, 28-6 vs. Navy* W, 40-0 at Pitt W, 17-15 Michigan State W, 34-7 Iowa W, 28-0 at USC L, 20-17 * at Philadelphia