Leahy Carries On

Frank Leahy had been crying quietly all summer. His Irish hadn't lost a game since 1945, and his record at Notre Dame was 41 victories, three defeats and four ties. But, as usual, the future looked black to Leahy. As his 72-man squad stepped briskly through its pre-season paces at South Bend last week, Leahy looked ahead to opening day and turned away with a groan. Said he: "September 25 is going to be a sad afternoon. I think Purdue will beat us."

Sleep & Steak. If Notre Dame were starting the season against Spearfish Normal, Leahy would probably predict victory for Spearfish. But for once, this coachly gloom seemed to have some slight justification. Notre Dame's 1947 All-America Quarterback Johnny Lujack had graduated; the departure of Ziggie Czarobski and All-America George Connor had left holes at both tackles. (Gritted Leahy: "You can't lose boys like that without having to start over.") And Purdue's 1948 Boilermakers, though still the underdogs, were a long gasp from an opening-game breather. To many experts, they looked like the strongest team on Notre Dame's ten-game schedule--which this year, for the first time since 1913, does not include Army.

The Notre Dame players had returned to South Bend from their summer vacations looking bronzed and rugged. They had kept in shape as farmhands, icemen, truck drivers and lifeguards. Now they were back on a Leahy diet of football, sleep and twice-a-week steaks. Coming out of each scrimmage huddle the players yelled: "Beat the Boilermakers."

Board & Room. For Lujack's successor at quarterback, Leahy was counting on Frank Tripucka, a shy, skinny New Jersey senior. Like all but a few Notre Dame players (and like many other college players), 21-year-old Tripucka is "working his way through." In exchange for free room, board and tuition, he does easy campus chores (e.g., painting stadium seats) after football season is over. Last year Tripucka completed 25 passes for 422 yards (Lujack's mark: 61 for 777)--but he was not yet a Lujack at tackling, running, or field generalship.

At Lafayette, not far away, Purdue's Boilermakers were practicing in secret last week behind a high canvas screen. Businesslike Coach Stu Holcomb, who had been an assistant to Earl Blaik at West Point in the Davis-Blanchard heyday, had them hustling. He got the Boilermakers out on the practice field at an ungentlemanly 8:30 a.m., needled them with his impatient "Let's go, let's go!"

Compared with Coach Leahy, Stu Holcomb sounded like Pollyanna. Ten of Purdue's eleven 1947 starters were back this year, including Quarterback Bob De-Moss, a fine passer, and Halfback Harry Szulborski, who averaged better than six yards a try in 1947. That left Holcomb only one understandable gripe: a schedule that pits Purdue against Notre Dame, Northwestern and Michigan in the first three weeks.

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