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Show WW s x ?cE m m DACKED crowds jamming the sta- diums wherever Notre Dame has played this season reminds one again of the record crowds Notre Dame has drawn for the last 20 years in football. There has been nothing in sport to match the crowd appeal Notre Dame carries, no matter mat-ter where the game is played. To keep an attendance record at such high mark for 20 years is something beyond t''mr the tale of the book. j " v; In those years, I f, ' Ii can recall a crowd yt S as high as 101,000 y for a Notre Dame-f Dame-f Southern California fx ' game in the big Los d3f i Seles Municipal JJ4 stadium. Certainly xJf Notre Dame would iyy&'-:f?-fy$& draw another ca-r-J.Lil pacity gathering at GrantlandRice Los Angeles this fall if extended travel restrictions hadn't ended the old rivalry ri-valry for the time being.. This season sea-son again, Notre Dame has played to capacity in practically every one of her games. In just three games, including the army clash, the South Bend troopers troop-ers added up a count of some 200,-000 200,-000 at Urbana, Baltimore and New York. It was packed-house business in each place with many, many thousands unable to buy tickets. "Sold out" is usually the message weeks ahead when Notre Dame plays, wherever she plays. Notre Dame's ten games passed the 500,000 mark, and lack of seating seat-ing space is the only thing that keeps this count from beating the million mark. Color's the Answer You might ask just why this is so. The answer is simple enough. It began under the colorful leadership of Knute Rockne, plus the influence of Notre Dame's faculty. The crowd long ago began to sense the fact that Notre Dame teams not only played fine football, but they were teams that gave the game spirit and sportsmanship. From the Four Horsemen and the Seven Mules to the 1944 team, No-Ire No-Ire Danne has given the crowd what it wanted to see. In the last 20 years I've seen Notre Dame beaten, but I've never seen a dull Notre Dame team. I'll admit that through most of this period Notre Dame has bad the jump in material. Good, young football foot-ball players want to go to Notre Dame, for Notre Dame has the big edge In national headlines. Yet Notre No-tre Dame plays in no bowl games, no post-season games, and you might be surprised to know how many young or budding stars pick colleges who might be eligible for one of the big bowls. No one can question the fact that through the last ten years Notre Dame has meant the top in football to millions, to more millions than any other team. How About the Others? What about Minnesota's many great teams? What about Michigan or Ohio State? In the main these teams stick to the Middle West. They have had teams better than Notre Dame. But Notre Dame covers cov-ers the football map. The roving Irish may play in Los Angeles or in New York. They come to Baltimore. Balti-more. They Invade Atlanta. They take on all comers. They cover no restricted territory. And if you look over their record you'll know Notre Dame has done better than just average. av-erage. Navy finally won, and then Army, after waiting many years. Until this year's 59-0 victory, good Army teams hadn't won from No-Ire No-Ire Dame since 1931, a matter of 13 years ago. Army hadn't scored on Notre Dame in the last five seasons. sea-sons. Notre Dame's one big pitfall was Pittsburgh under Jock Sutherland. The Big Scot had the whip hand over Notre Dame, winning year after aft-er year. But in the last decade Jock's Panthers were the only opponents oppo-nents who kept on winning from the South Bend bunch. It must be admitted, however, that in the way of color, spirit, sportsmanship and skilL Notre . Dame has deserved its place as the big drawing card of football. On the winning side, against college teams, you'll find In the three years preceding pre-ceding this season, for one example exam-ple that Notre Dame has lost only two games, if our memory remains. re-mains. Those college victories go to Michigan and Georgia Tech. But win or lose, the South Bend Simoon teeps packing them in. And prob-lbly prob-lbly will do so, year after year. Bookies vs. Machines "I'd say," one veteran bookmaker bookmak-er told me. "we gave the players at least 100 per cent the best of it jver these mutuel machines. We enow our day is over, so far as setting prices are concerned. "As everyone knows, outside aookmakers still keep busy. With 5400.000,000 handled at New York tracks, at least $250,000,000 is handled han-dled away from the tracks. There ttould be no such betting as this un-Jr un-Jr the old bookmaker system. ' ' |