| OCR Text |
Show Pffj V GMimAfiD XlHAT was the greatest Notre ' Dame team? The Four Horsemen? Horse-men? Rockne's masterpiece of 1930? Or Frank Leahy's 1943 squad with Bcrtclli on the job? Here's the opening argument "Dear Grant: They are saying the 1943 N. Damers were a better aggregation aggre-gation than the f urKiefcated fight- ' , i mg Irish of 1930. j Those who do " 1 overlook the fact ' J that the latter L 4 f outfit had the I (1 coaching benefit If j I of the daddy-stir- m rer-upper of 'em f --t! ' j all the best fcJi.i damned coach Frank Leahy that ever lived, Rock, himself! In battle, Grant, between these two teams, how much of a factor would Jiaving Rock on your bench figure in the final outcome? I should say plenty, the fact that Frank Leahy's an inspirational leader and a brilliant bril-liant strategist, himself, notwithstanding. notwith-standing. But Rock was Rock, that's all. And that means the best. "I think another proof of the 1930 team's greatness is the fact that I can remember names from it. And I'm not a Notre Dame man, nor rooter. I generally root for the N. D.'s to get it in the neck. The little guy, the underdog, always finds favor with me. But I can remember remem-ber the many nominees for All-America All-America mention from that team; the guards, Bert Mctzger and Cannon, Can-non, Tommy Yarr, the center, the great tackles, Joe Kurth and Harris, and Philadelphia's Tom Conley, the captain and end. The other end has bowed to memory, but I know he was a dandy. "But the backs! Frank Carideo, a Mills' pupil, and one of the greats of all time, certainly would give his team a vast edge in this department. depart-ment. Marty Brill, with Earl Brit-tain Brit-tain of Illinois, will go down in history his-tory among the great blocking backs. Joe Savoldi was a human battering ram, while Marchy Schwarz was the breakaway guy who could do more than his share of breaking away. Chuck Jackwich, Bucky O'Connor, and Moon Mullins were other fine backs and important cogs in Rock's mighty machine. "This present team would have it over Rock's outfit in the passing department de-partment with the Accurate Angelo heaving the leather. Schwarz and Carideo were no more than fair flingers for Rock, but they seldom had to be, what with the overland game so profitable. Rock's line could invent the holes! And there is recent proof that a line of such caliber might completely nullify Angelo's fine passing game. "I'll take Rock's boys, Grant, of the two. And you? "Very truly yours, "George E. Heiser." A Few Words in Rebuttal I'm sorry, George, but I'll have to string with Frank Leahy's 1943 squad with Bertelli in action. To me the Four Horsemen outfit, with a backfield averaging 159 pounds, plus a rather light line were the all-top and all-time artists. Pound for pound. But they lacked the needed poundage. Here's the answer. Red Blaik and other Army coaches will tell you and prove they could handle the older Notre Dame attack. Army outplayed Notre Dame badly the day Jack Elder ran 95 yards for the winning touchdown and Savoldi was there. In 1930, Notre Dame beat a fair Army team 7 to 6. The 1943 Army team was far better bet-ter than the 1930 Army team. Yet it is my belief that with Bcrtclli faking and passing and running his squad, Notre Dame could have beaten beat-en Army 40 to 0, or worse. Don't forget this 1943 Notre Danie team ran up over 80 points on fine Navy and Georgia Tech teams, which Bill Alexander and Billek Whelchel will tell you could have I been 60 to 0 in each game, going all the way out. "Army teams could hold the Rockne attack to small scores," Red Blaik told me. "We couldn't hold this 1943 team to any small score, even with Bertelli missing. They hit us with too much speed and power pow-er at too many spots." The 1913 N. D. team had a bigger, faster line. It had much bigger, faster ends. It had a much better backfield with Bertelli, Crcighton Miller, Rykovich, Mello, Kelly, and several others. And it had that smoothly clicking, devastating T-formation, hitting the opposition like a bazooka shell. Bertelli Most Dangerous Above all in Bertelli 1943 Notre Dome had a quarterback far more dangerous on the scoring side than Carideo ever came close to being. It is my belief that Notre Dame's 1D43 team, with Bertelli in action, could have beaten the 1030 team by J two or three touchdowns and i wrecked the Four Horsemen through ! a surplus of power, deception and passing. I doubt before Bertelli left that any 1943 pro team could have beaten it and the pros in general, are well ahead of the collegians. ! |
