1930 Notre Dame USC Knute Rockne's Last Game Ticket (07/05/2009)

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1930 Notre Dame USC Knute Rockne's Last Game Ticket

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1930 Notre Dame USC Knute Rockne's Last Game Ticket

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Sold Date: 07/05/2009
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Sports

This is a ticket stub from the 12/6/30 football game between the University of Southern California Trojans and Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Knute Rockne coaches his final game before tragically dying in a plane crash before the start of the next season. A staple hole does not detract from this great piece of Notre Dame memorabilia. Game poster and photo from game are not included in this auction. Read below about this historic game! High bidder to add $2.00 S/H and payment expected within 7 days of auction end. Thanks for looking! I have sold 5 of these tickets in the past five years in varying conditions. $352.69, $176, 2 for $443 and $250 were the sales prices so ranged from $176 to $352.69. This ticket is nicer than any of those!

Maybe the most enduring image of Knute Rockne is that of the master psychologist. His rallying cry for the 1928 Army game, "Win one for The Gipper," needs no ballyhooing Other halftime talks, not so well documented and perhaps apocryphal, are almost as famous. "Let's go girls," was the complete text of one. "Fighting Irish? Bah!" was another. The coach waxed more expansive at the midpoint of the 1925 Northwestern game: "You can tell your grandchildren you had the honor of playing on the first team to quit at Notre Dame." So saying, Rock abandoned his players for a seat in the stands. But he was back on the sidelines by the fourth quarter to see Notre Dame nail down the 13- 10 victory.
The impression then is of Rockne, the locker room psychologist. But that is unfair. This was a man who could tailor any ego to fit his team, could turn any emotional situation to his benefit. His last game went far beyond the bounds of stirring pep talks. It was psychological warfare from start to finish.

By December t were no words left for the 1930 USC Trojans. "The Wonder Boys" they were called, the best the West had ever seen. They did, indeed, seem unstoppable, blowing top-rate opponents off the field by incredibly lopsided scores: 32-0, 52-0, 74-0. What would it be against Notre Dame?

Rockne's Ramblers were figured to be overrated. The defending national champs and winners of eighteen in a row were visibly weary. Two tough, tight games against Army and Northwestern had wasted the team to its breaking point. And with Savoldi and Mullins out of the line- up, t was no fullback in sight to plug that gaping hole in the Irish backfield.

Why bother with alibis? Every sportswriter in the country agreed that USC could not be beaten, whomever the opponent. Rockne himself as much as admitted impending disaster. "We're not giving up the ship," he sighed a week before the game. "but we're prepared to man the lifeboats."

The Notre Dame Special chugged out of Chicago's LaSalle Street Station on 9:30 of a Tuesay evening, November 30. In his private compartment Rockne sat, stuck his chin in his hand, stared out the black window, and plotted. Within the next few days, he would orchestrate the emotions of thousands of people, and spring an unprecedented hoax on the entire nation.

The con job started as soon as the Ramblers arrived in Tucson for Wednesday and Thursday workouts, standard procedure for a Notre Dame team traveling to the coast. Rockne's first problem was to find a fullback. Advice was plentiful: every newspaper in America had already announced that Dan Hanley was the only logical choice. Rockne, however, decided to gamble, and stuck third-string halfback Bucky O'Connor into the starting fullback spot. The difficult assignments and precise rhythms of Rockne's ever-shifting backfield made this sort of reassignment impossible, which is probably why the coach decided to keep it a secret.

Very quietly, Rockne had Hanley and O'Connor switch jerseys. The whole team was in on the gag when O'Connor impersonated Hanley at Wednesday's practice. Play after play, the transplanted halfback plowed unimpressively into the middle of the line, never once flashing his brilliant outside speed. Los Angeles sportswriters y...

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