Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football

Murray A. Sperber

Indiana University Press, 1993 - Education - 634 pages

"Sperber...tackles the details, great and small, unearthing a treasure." --New York Times Book Review

Shake Down the Thunder traces the history of the Notre Dame football program--which has acquired almost mythical proportions--from its humble origins in the 19th century to its status as the paragon of college sports. It presents the true story of the program's formative years, the reality behind the myths. Both social history and sports history, this book documents as never before the first half-century of Notre Dame football and relates it to the rise of big-time intercollegiate athletics, the college sports reform movement, and the corrupt sporting press of the period. Shake Down the Thunder is must reading for all Fighting Irish fans, their detractors, and any reader engaged by American cultural history.

What people are saying

SHAKE DOWN THE THUNDER: The Creation of Notre Dame Football

User Review  - Jane Doe - Kirkus

Sperber (English and American Studies/Indiana University; College Sports Inc., 1990) does in this exceptional, exhaustive history of Notre Dame football what he does best: dash myths and penetrate to ...

Shake down the thunder: the creation of Notre Dame football

User Review  - Not Available - Book Verdict

Sperber (English, Indiana Univ.) chronicles Notre Dame and its football dynasty, from the institution's early days as a small school founded by French priests to the hiring of coach Frank Leahy in ...

Contents

• LUniversite de Notre Dame du Lac and the Nineteenth Century: 3
• The Origins of Notre Dames Athletic Culture: 9
• Catholic versus American Higher Education: 15
• The Origin of The Notre Dame Victory March: 21
• Notre Dame Sports 19001912: 27
• Jesse Harper 1913 and the First Army Game: 37
• Jesse Harper 1914 and the Finances of College Football: 43
• Jesse Harper 19151917 and the Job of Athletic Director: 49
• Jesse Harpers Assistant Knute Rockne: 56
• Shaking Down the Thunder 19181931: 65
• Catholic versus American Higher Education in the 1920s: 67
• The Growth of the Athletic Culture: 71
• The Origin of the Fighting Irish Nickname: 79
• Rockne at Ground Zero 19181919: 84
• Rocknes Rocket First Version 1920: 98
• George Gipps Five Seasons at Notre Dame: 105
• The Rocket Crashes Rocknes Miraculous Escape 1921: 114
• Building a Better Rocket 1922: 127
• On the Launch Pad 1923: 138
• Notre Dame versus Klandiana 1924: 157
• Blastoff 1924: 163
• The Four Horsemen Grantland Rice versus Reality: 173
• Rockne Threatens to Jump Ship 1925: 183
• Antiaircraft Fire from the Big Ten 1926: 207
• Knute K Rockne Inc: 223
• Antiaircraft Fire from the College Sports Reformers 1927: 241
• Al Smith and Win One for the Gipper 1928: 273
• Rockne Attacks the College Sports Reformers 1929: 296
• Rocknes Last and Greatest Rocket 1930: 323
• The Death of Reform and Rockne 1931: 347
• Rally Sons of Notre Dame 19321941: 363
• In the Depression 19311941: 365
• After Rockne in 1931: 371
• The Demand for Perfection 1932: 388
• The Removal of a Vice President and the First Firing of a Notre Dame Head Coach 1933: 399
• OHara and Layden Assume Power 19341936: 419
• OHara and Layden in Power 19371939: 444
• Beginning Knute Rockne All American 1939: 464
• Filming Knute Rockne All American 1940: 473
• The End of the Rockne Era 1940: 484
• The End of the Creation of Notre Dame Football 1941: 495
• Epilogue: 499
• Notes: 503
• Bibliography: 613
• Index: 619

About the author

Murray Sperber is Professor of English and American Studies at Indiana University and author of Beer and Circuses: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football
• Author: Murray A. Sperber
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1993
• ISBN: 0253215684, 9780253215680
• Length: 634 pages
• Subjects: Education / Physical Education; Sports & Recreation / Football; Sports & Recreation / History