Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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at Notre Dame during his time (only two others, Tom MacDonald with 15 and Luther Bradley with 17 have sur- passed it), could run inside or outside on offense, completed four passes for 111 yards, averaged nearly 16 yards per catch during his career, returned two of the eight kicks booted to him as a senior for touchdowns, averaged about 11 yards per punt return during his career and handled the punting. Like 1947 Heisman winner John Lujack before him and 1956 Heisman recipient Paul Hornung after him, Lattner was the consummate "triple threat" — and then some. Against top teams from every corner of the country, Lattner thrived — and that's how he won what remains the second closest Heisman race in history. He finished 56 points (1,850 to 1,794) ahead of Minnesota's Paul Giel. (The closest came in 1985 when Auburn's Bo Jackson won by 45 points over Io- wa's Chuck Long.) "I actually lost the Midwest to Giel," Lattner said. "I won the East Coast vote because I had a good game against Pennsylvania, and I won the West Coast because I scored four touchdowns against Southern Cal. Television really wasn't a big impact back then. The publicity had to come from playing in areas where you could get the media's attention from all over the country." Alas, because of a controversial 14- 14 tie with Iowa, the Irish finished No. 2 in 1953 to unbeaten Maryland. The Terrapins lost to Oklahoma — where the Irish won in the opener — in the Orange Bowl, but back then the final polls were completed after the regular season. "You sucked it up a little bit because there wasn't anything you could do about it," Lattner said. "There were five polls back then, and we won three of them — but the only two that counted were the UP and AP." After his graduation, Lattner played with the Pittsburgh Steelers and fin- ished third in the Rookie of the Year balloting while earning Pro Bowl hon- ors. However, because of his ROTC commitment, he had to be with the Air Force the next two years, where he suf- fered a football career-ending knee in- jury while playing at one of the bases. He might have been a cruiser early in his career, but Lattner ultimately became the aircraft carrier for Notre Dame's football program in the early 1950s. ✦ During his Irish career, Lattner excelled as a run- ner, averaged nearly 16 yards per reception, com- pleted four passes for 111 yards, set the school's career interceptions record with 13, and contrib- uted on special teams as both a punter and dan- gerous return man. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS