Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY LOU SOMOGYI 125th anniversary, or "The Quasqui- centennial," in Notre Dame football. Throughout the 2012 football season, Blue & Gold Illustrated will commem- orate it with the program's lore, be it features or top 10 countdowns. We begin the series with maybe the Editor's Note: This year marks the T most identifiable Fight Song, or Victory March, in American athletics history. March might ring hollow. What "odds" does a football pro- o the cynical, the line, "What tho' the odds be great or small, ol' Notre Dame will win over all," in the school's Victory gram with so much tradition, the most consensus national titles (11), lore, deep financial coffers and pub- licity — plus its own national tele- vision contract — have to struggle against? Even today, after 18 years of incon- In Perfect HARMONY Notre Dame's rise coincided just more than 100 years ago The Victory March and sistency (1994-2011) and frustration on the gridiron, why should it be considered an underdog with plush facilities, coast-to-coast recruiting and a venerated brand? The words actually represented the school's heritage in the 1900s, when the odds for the small, Catholic col- lege achieving respect were formi- dable. Back then, Notre Dame lacked conference identity, which was val- ued when the NCAA formed in 1906. Just as in the late 1890s, when Notre Dame was rejected for admission into the Western Conference, it was denied entrance into the Big Nine in 1908. The Western Conference's orig- inal members were Chicago, Minne- sota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwest- ern, Purdue and Michigan. Indiana and Iowa were later added to the seven to make it the Big Nine, but Notre Dame, which was derisively nicknamed "Catholics," couldn't make it an even 10. Because it was ostracized by the majority of the Big Nine, the Notre Dame football program had to settle for playing second- and third-tier op- ponents such as American Medical, Missouri Osteopaths, South Bend Athletic Club, Englewood High School, and small colleges such as Franklin, Hillsdale and Olivet. Early on in the decade, Notre Dame was outclassed by the Big Nine. In three meetings against Michigan from 1901-08, it was outscored 44-6. 20 PRESEASON 2012 The Notre Dame marching band forms the interlock "ND" monogram before each home football game while it plays the university's fight song. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS In its three encounters with Wiscon- sin, it was annihilated 143-0. Although stories have varied on the genesis and debut of "The Vic- tory March," it is known that 1904 Notre Dame graduate Michael Shea wrote the music while collaborating with his brother John (a Dou- ble-Domer with de- grees earned in 1906 and 1908) on the lyrics. Michael, a teacher at Notre Dame, was preparing for the priesthood and was ordained in 1912. year, 1906, that the tune was report- edly first attempted in humble sur- roundings, according to a Notre Dame student, Robert Kasper. Upon It was during John Shea's senior HUMBLE ROOTS learning of Rev. Michael Shea's death in 1940 at age 55, Kasper wrote to the Chicago Herald-American shortly thereafter. I didn't hear the song until many years later when it came over the air during a football broadcast." Accounts of its public debut vary, first tryout," Kasper wrote. "Mike Shea sat at the piano and played the piece, and John and the rest of us made a valiant effort to sing it. Though I re- mained at Notre Dame until 1909, but popular agreement has it occur- ring in the winter of 1908 when Mi- chael played it on the organ of the Second Congregational Church in BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED students invited by the co-authors to Washing- ton Hall in 1906 to hear [the Victory March's] "I was one of the three