Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

The Date: Nov. 28, 1915
The Teams: Canton v. Massillon

The outcome: Canton wins 6-0 when one of their tackles, Gideon Smith, recovers a 4th quarter fumble in the end zone on what would have been the game tying score. The Massillon player, Briggs, claimed the ball had been kicked out of his hands by a uniformed policeman, but there were no police at the game. The ensuing argument resulted in the game ending prior to regulation. Years later Bulldog manager John Cusak said a uniformed train conductor told him that he was the one who kicked the ball out of Briggs hand because he had bet on Canton.

My question: Did Notre Dame assistant coach Knute Rockne play in this game?

PFRA articles, Keith McClellan’s book, newspapers at the time would say yes. But another author, Emil Klosinski, claims Rockne likely wouldn’t have played much Sunday football in 1915. He cites several reasons and in this particular case, Notre Dame played at Rice on Saturday the 27th. Without air travel, Rockne would have had to catch a train, likely on his own, to get to the game in Canton. Given his work and family responsibilities, would this game have been worth it to him? How much trouble would he have had making connections from Texas to Ohio? Also of note, Emil mentions in the book that the extent to which Indiana independent teams "loaded up" with Notre Dame players was often exaggerated, with attracting more fans or making an excuse for a loss two possible reasons. He specifically mentions Rockne as an individual who was often impersonated. So if one follows this to the logical conclusion, Rockne may have been impersonated in this game. It could have been advertised as Thorpe v. Dorais/Rockne.

From a historical perspective, this game has a lot of elements to it: the crazy ending, Jim Thorpe’s first season, Gideon Smith’s participation (he was African-American), and the Notre Dame duo of Dorais passing and Rockne receiving for Massillon. But could history have gotten Rockne’s participation wrong? I for one hope not, I like the idea of him playing, but I'm definitely doubting it now. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Thanks!

The Canton Repository definitely said Rockne was playing -- in fact, the play-by-play account indicates that he caught three passes for 101 yards. I don't think there's much question about it. But I guess you never know.

Thanks Bob! Wow a 100 yard receiving game. I'd like to see the play-by-play at some point.

I read the McClellan and Klosinski books back to back recently and they sure paint different pictures. One had him as a star player and the other had him as an average player who really didn’t even play pro ball much, but was impersonated frequently. Pretty far apart. It would be disappointing to learn that Rockne didn’t play in the “train conductor” game - I wish there was something beyond the newspaper accounts though…. I don't have much newspaper access apart from Google, so I opened my "The Scrapbook History..." book and the Cleveland Plain Dealer had Rockne and not Briggs on the critical "fumble". On the same page, same newspaper, Rockne played for Akron in 1914. And then there's the issue of assumed names - as far as lineups go, I'm guessing the newspapers published what they were given.

TanksAndSpartans wrote:Thanks Bob! Wow a 100 yard receiving game. I'd like to see the play-by-play at some point.

I read the McClellan and Klosinski books back to back recently and they sure paint different pictures. One had him as a star player and the other had him as an average player who really didn’t even play pro ball much, but was impersonated frequently. Pretty far apart. It would be disappointing to learn that Rockne didn’t play in the “train conductor” game - I wish there was something beyond the newspaper accounts though…. I don't have much newspaper access apart from Google, so I opened my "The Scrapbook History..." book and the Cleveland Plain Dealer had Rockne and not Briggs on the critical "fumble". On the same page, same newspaper, Rockne played for Akron in 1914. And then there's the issue of assumed names - as far as lineups go, I'm guessing the newspapers published what they were given.

I believe it was one of the Nesser brothers who said that one year Rockne was always on the opposing team, no matter who the Panhandles happened to be playing that day

rhickok1109 wrote:I believe it was one of the Nesser brothers who said that one year Rockne was always on the opposing team, no matter who the Panhandles happened to be playing that day

Exactly! That quote appears in Neft's encyclopedia and refers to the 1915 season, and it's the one Klosinski uses to support his argument. I have no problem believing Klosinski is more right than wrong - I was just hoping Rockne did get those 100 yards in the "championship" even if that's the only game he played in that season.