The ‘20s: Culture, Consumption, and Crash 145played there and he and quarterback Gus Dorais revolutionized the sport in
1913 when, in a game against Army, they introduced the forward pass as an
essential part of the game [they did not “invent” the pass, as some myths
insisted, but used it more than any team prior to then had]. In 1918, just four
years after graduating, Rockne becames Notre Dame’s head coach, and he and
the school became the stuff of legends. In 1920, Notre Dame star player
George Gipp died from strep throat. Later that year, to inspire his team
against Army, he said that Gipp’s final words were “Rock, when the team is
up against it, when things are going wrong and the breaks are beating the
boys, tell them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the
Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock. But I’ll know about it, and I’ll
be happy.” Whether Gipp really said that or Rockne was using it as a motiva-
tional ploy, the Fighting Irish beat Army that day and Gipp [and Rockne]
became immortalized in a Hollywood film.
In 1924, the famed sportswriter Grantland Rice added to the legend by
publicizing “The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame.” During another victory
over Army—which was a football powerhouse in the 1920s—he wrote per-
FIGuRE 3-6 Babe Ruth and President Harding