Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? sive captain, guard Frank Pomarico offensive captain and Casper the team captain. Although considered a "free spirit," Casper excelled in the classroom as an Academic All-American in his econom- ics major and brought both talent and levity to his role. "I was a little bit 'out there' and I've Casper also saw part-time work along the defensive line as a junior when at- trition hit there). The championship run was a conflu- ence of myriad factors, including his "accidental" move to tight end. "The junior class with Tommy Cle- always gotten along with guys that were different," Casper said. "I told everybody you don't have to vote for me, but I do want to be captain. Not many people campaigned for the job, but I did and I had a lot of friends. "I was a guy that just hung out with everybody. I didn't make the party, I wasn't the party — I just was always at the party." spring, juniors Steve Quehl and Ed Bauer were among the top candidates to replace him at tight end. But when injuries hit the position, Casper was shifted there, thanks in part to juniors Steve Sylvester and Steve Neece set- tling in as the starting tackles. Casper still was the best blocker on turned into one big party when Notre Dame won the national title with an 11-0 record that was capped with a 24- 23 victory versus No. 1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. With Creaney having graduated that Casper's senior campaign in 1973 DREAM SEASON the team — and a year earlier he started at wideout for one game when Wil- lie Townsend was injured. Not many players in college football history had the skills to start at offensive tackle one week and wideout the next (plus ments came up and really blossomed and then we had some really great freshmen like Luther Bradley and Ross Browner come in to help the defense," Casper said. "We weren't a good team right off the bat, but we got better as the year went on." In the pulsating title game that had seven lead changes, Casper twice was a prime figure while helping the Irish forge ahead. On Eric Penick's 12-yard touchdown run to give Notre Dame a 21-17 edge, Casper pancaked two Crimson Tide defenders. Then with the Irish trailing, 23-21, quarterback Tom Clements, while un- der heavy duress, floated a deep third- down pass to Casper, who made a su- perb catch between two defenders at the Alabama 15 to set up Bob Thomas' game-winning field goal from 19 yards with 4:26 left. It might have been recognized as one of the most famous catches in Notre Dame history — but was overshad- owed minutes later by the "other" Irish tight end, sophomore Robin Weber. With the national title on the line and the Irish backed up at their 3-yard line on third-and-eight, Weber (who had caught only one pass all year) was in- serted to disguise a running play with two minutes left. When Clements went back to pass off play action, the Ala- bama defense converged on Casper —