Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football

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Summary: Shake Down the Thunder
Review: All ND fans should read this book and keep it in their library.
The most comprehensive history of the early days of ND football.

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Summary: Family history
Review: Dr. Sperber unearthed Knute Rockne's personal and athletic department correspondence in the basement of Hesburgh Library and relied heavily upon it to create this insightful account of the times and tenure of Knute Rockne. Anyone who longs for the old days but wants to know what they were really like will find this book fascinating. Over time, the world has forgotten the way the nation mourned the passing of the great coach. It has also forgotten the genius, showman, businessman, and competitor that produced football's greatest record of achievement.

This book relies upon primary documents to breathe life into old attendance figures, names enshrined in Monogram Hall, and won-loss records. Newspaper accounts of the time and Rockne's correspondence reveal the corruption of the officiating, eligibility rules, and recruiting of his contemporaries but does not absolve him from his role. Preview: "Pop Warner football" should bear a different name.

Shortcomings include the meandering accounts of coaches, trends, and University presidents that can quickly become confusing. I strongly recommend "The Notre Dame Football Encyclopedia" (Marder, Spellen and Donovan, Citadel Press, 2001) as a companion to put the results of critical wins, losses, and seasons into perspective. The author's treatment of individual topics (the Rockne biopick, Geoge Gipp, etc.) separately tends to make the context of the seasons and their results hard to follow.

Dr. Sperber also shows his opions about big-time college athletics too boldly. He describes the "reform" movement of Rockne's era deftly but cannot help editorializing from his own campaigns at Indiana University, going so far as to name Coach Bob Knight in a footnote as an example of sport gone awry. Although his distinguished American Studies background serves him and the reader very well, his views come through clearly.

This book is excellent and provides wonderful insight into how Notre Dame football came to life.

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Summary: Candor in South Bend
Review: Not everyone would enjoy reading this book about Notre Dame football because it tells the story without the usual mythologizing. Sperber tells the history with all the warts (and triumphs). He even debunks the Gipp myth.

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Summary: Lee Marvin Playing The Role Of George Gipp
Review: SHAKE DOWN THE THUNDER is a scholarly look at a sports phenomenon - the creation and early development of football at Notre Dame to 1941 and the hiring of Frank Leahy as coach. Much of the book is devoted to the politics within the university community among the coaches, administrators and influential alumni. It is also a story about the rise of Notre Dame football during a period when Catholics were striving for more influence politically and more acceptance in general in the United States.

The author makes much use of the private correspondence of Knute Rockne and paints a very unromantic picture of the great coach and some of his star players. Based on this book Lee Marvin or Robert Mitchum instead of Ronald Reagan are the best choices to play the part of George Gipp in a movie.

SHAKE DOWN THE THUNDER is more of a cultural history than a football story. It contains very little football action. The book is well-researched and shows how both the urge to overemphasize college football and the resulting forces trying to contain it have been in existence for a long time.