(This is a 244 page hardback book (no dust jacket) titled ...)
This is a 244 page hardback book (no dust jacket) titled NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL: The T. Formation by Frank Leahy. Published by Prentice-Hall in 1949 - second printing, June 1949. Illustrated with vintage black and white photographs. See my photographs (5) of this book on main listing page. Bookseller since 1995 (LL-Sport-topshelf-down-L) rareviewbooks
https://www.amazon.com/Notre-Dame-football-formation-Prentice-Hall/dp/B0007FC22W?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0007FC22W
(Defensive football)
Defensive football
https://www.amazon.com/Defensive-football-Prentice-Hall-health-sports/dp/B0007DP1EU?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0007DP1EU
Francis William Leahy was born in O'Neill, Nebraska, United States, the son of Frank Leahy, a freighter and produce dealer, and Mary Kane. The family of four boys and four girls moved frequently throughout the Plains states, but settled in Winner, South Dakota.
Leahy attended public school, graduating from high school in 1927. Later he attended the University of Notre Dame. Frank graduated in 1931 with a B. S. in physical education.
Leahy was an experienced cattle herder and had many dealings with Indians from the nearby Rosebud reservation. He excelled in many sports but his real strengths lay in football and boxing. For a time he seriously considered becoming a professional boxer. Destiny deemed otherwise, however, when his high school football coach, himself an illustrious alumnus of Notre Dame, convinced Knute Rockne that young Frank was deserving of a football scholarship to the South Bend powerhouse. Despite being plagued by injuries, Leahy was the starting right tackle on Notre Dame's national championship team of 1929. His own athletic prowess was overshadowed by others, but he was second to none in determination and obsessive work on fundamentals. His dreams died just days before the first game of his senior year when a knee injury in practice ended his playing career.
Calamity was transformed into opportunity, however, when Leahy realized that by scrutinizing Rockne's methods he could learn the trade from one of the greatest coaches of all time. His knowledge was further enhanced when he and Rockne spent two weeks together as roommates at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. , at the end of the season talking nothing but football. In 1931 he weighed about 180 pounds, had blue eyes, blond hair, and resembled the film star Jimmy Stewart.
On Rockne's recommendation Leahy was hired as line coach at Georgetown University for the 1931 season. The spirited play of the Hoya line caught the eye of Jim Crowley, head coach of Michigan State, and in 1932 Leahy became the line coach for the Spartans. When Crowley went to Fordham as head coach the following year, Leahy went along and remained there for six years. Although unknown to fans during this period Leahy was gaining attention from the coaching fraternity because of his development of the "Seven Blocks of Granite. " Fordham's front line earned this sobriquet by winning all but two games in three seasons without the benefit of an outstanding backfield. One of its members, Vince Lombardi, went on to achieve even greater fame as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.
Leahy burst into national prominence when he became head football coach at the perennially weak Boston College in 1939. In a miraculous turnaround B. C. defeated nineteen of twenty regular-season opponents in the next two years. Topping that were two bowl invitations. The high point was the epic 19-13 1941 Sugar Bowl victory over highly favored Tennessee. Frank Leahy returned to Notre Dame in 1941, but only after securing a release from a newly signed contract with a bitter Boston College. He considered his return a holy mission, a continuation of the quest begun by his old teacher; his teams would represent "Our Lady" in sacred combat.
After leading the Irish through its first undefeated season since Rockne's last year (1930), Leahy was voted coach of the year in 1941. Through constant innovation Leahy's teams continued to roll up the victories. He invented the "pocket" to protect his quarterback on pass plays. In 1942 he abandoned the Notre Dame box formation in favor of the T formation utilized by the professional Chicago Bears. This was heretical in the view of Notre Dame's staunch followers and was strongly criticized. Fortunately for Leahy he had two extremely gifted quarterbacks in Angelo Bertelli and Johnny Lujack and the transition was a success. For the 1946 season he had a thirty-foot-high tower constructed in the middle of the practice field complete with loudspeakers so that he could better oversee the various groups of players.
Leahy's coaching career was interrupted by World War II when he entered the navy in 1944 as a lieutenant commander in charge of recreation programs for submarine crews. Returning in 1946 he led the Fighting Irish to another undefeated season and the number one ranking in the country. Three more undefeated seasons followed before Notre Dame finally lost to Purdue in 1950 after thirty-nine consecutive unbeaten games, all against strong opponents. The next unbeaten season, 1953, proved to be most costly to Leahy. Physical exhaustion and emotional strain caused an attack of acute pancreatitis at halftime of the Georgia Tech game. Shortly after the end of the season Leahy resigned for health reasons.
Poor health was not the only reason for Leahy's resignation. For a number of years, some Notre Dame priests felt that football preeminence was tarnishing the university's fine academic reputation. In 1949 this faction was able to reduce the number of annual football scholarships, greatly distressing Leahy. His cause was further damaged by ethically questionable late-game tactics. Subterfuges helped to secure one victory and one tie. First there was the "sucker shift" (motion by offensive linemen inducing an offsides infraction by the opponents) against Southern California. Perhaps more devious was an infamous faked injury to stop the clock with Iowa leading Notre Dame, thereby gaining time to plan another play. While both of these stunts were standard football fare, scorn was heaped upon Leahy and Notre Dame for utilizing them. After his retirement, his business ventures met with indifferent success, although he was quite popular on the lecture circuit. He died in Portland, Oregon.
In thirteen years Leahy recorded 107 wins, 13 losses, and 9 ties. He had seven undefeated seasons, four national champions, and produced four Heisman Trophy winners. In addition, he wrote two books: Notre Dame: The T Formation (1949) and Defensive Football (1951). In an age when the popularity of college football reigned supreme, Frank Leahy hobnobbed with Hollywood celebrities, corporate executives, and national politicians. In 1970 he was elected to the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame.
(This is a 244 page hardback book (no dust jacket) titled ...)
(Defensive football)
book
On July 4, 1935, Leahy married Florence ("Floss") Reilly. They had eight children.
