Teaching Notre Dame Modern Football (1887)

Ed. 8/14/2018, As we approach the now “on-again” Notre Dame series, a primer on how this all started:

With all the talk on the historical significance of the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry, I’d thought I’d share a little bit on the original meeting in 1887. Women, prepare to swoon.

DeHaven and HarlessSo you’ve heard that Michigan taught Notre Dame how to play this game. This is true of course, and the details of that meeting are chronicled up front in John Kryk outstanding book Natural Enemies.

Kryk explains that the origins of the fateful meeting in South Bend over 125 years ago can be attributed to three men: students George DeHaven, Billy Harless and Notre Dame’s prefect Patrick ‘Brother Paul’…