Notre Dame Football Review - 1929 - Archives - University of Notre ...

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42 OFFICIAL FO.OTBALL REVIEW-1929
Notre Datne-A Teatn That Packs 'Etn In
.. Panoramic view of the 120,000 crowd that jammed Soldier ~ield to see the Notre Dame-South~rn California- game.
. What Jack Dempsey was to boxing, what Babe Ruth
is to baseball, what Bobby Jones is to golf-that is what
Notre Dame represents to football.
The crowd loves action, fighting h~arts, and the faculty
for coming back when defeat seems inevitable, and Notre
Dame teams have never failed to show these qualities. That
the 1929 team wa~ no exception to the rule is shown by
the fact that they packed in a total audience of 600,000
persons, or an average of over 65,000 at each game, to set
a new mark that won't be broken for some time.
. uThe New Four Horsemen".·opened their season before
a Homecoming crowd of 20,000 at Bloomington, and the
~ext week a sellout gathering of 80,000 saw them beat the·
Navy at Baltimore. Coming into their uback yard home
field" in Chicago, Oct. 19, they romped about before
100,000 pairs of eager eyes to beat \Visconsin.
The following week, 70,000, the largest crowd ever to
witness a sporting· event in Pittsburgh, saw them _play
Carnegie Tech. It was the first time the Carnegie stadium,
built in 1.925, was filled. Thirty-five thousand saw them
get revenge from Georga Tech at Atlanta· on Nov. 2. Their
fame thus far drew a crowd of 45,000 to the Drake game
the next week, and following tha.t they equalled their own
record -with a conglameration of some 120,000 souls at
Soldier Field when they played Southern California.
Chicago's intersectional clash with Washington did not
stop 50,000 persons from turning out Nov. ·23 to see
Notre Dame wrestle with the Northwestern \Vildcats.
The 80,000 pasteboards for the traditional Army game in
New York were sold out before the season opened and an
added 200,000 applications were re~urned to their senders.
The last three games were all sellouts, for that matter, a
striking tribute to a team that came back after losing four
games the previous year and fought its way to the top of
the heap again.
. The mobs go fo.r winners and for teams that never quit
when they are fighting a losing battle. They want to see
football played scientific~lly, but. not if the elements of
fight and daring are lost. The keen knowledge of the
game and the inspiration Coach Rockne gives his players
combines both of the elements th~t the public wants.
That is why 600,000 persons went milling through the
turnstiles of the nation's largest stadia this year. Notre
Dame football satisfies-but it is not mild.
HIKE SONG
T be march is on-
No brain or brawn
Can stojJ the charge of fighting men.
Loud rings tbe cry ·
Of grim defy
Of hard attack let loose again.
0, it's a Hike! Hike! Hilu! to victory,
Tbe call to rise and strilw,
For Notre Dame men are wimzing
'Vben Notre.Dmite bears Hilwl Hike! Hike/
CHORUS
Hark to tbe cbeering,
Songs rising bigb.
Hark to tbe roar
As ber raulu go marchiug by.
Shoulder to shoulder,
Chautiug her glorious 11ame
Burn bigh your fires
A11d swing along for Notre Dame.