The first thing you need to know about your author is that I am probably too obsessed with the incredible history of Notre Dame Football. While the goal of The 42nd Degree is to provide you with weekly updates on current Irish athletic achievements throughout the year there will always be some historical content included. It’s in my wheelhouse and I can’t help myself.
I go down historical rabbit holes often and here it is, the first edition of The 42nd Degree and I am off on a tangent that took me days to wade through. Why?
While making sure I had details correct about the Founders Lines at Notre Dame, I came upon an old story on FightingIrish.com that drove home a point that there had never been a thought-out perspective on what should go on the field at Notre Dame before 2014.
I believe it would be fair to say that the prevailing thought from most Fighting Irish fans is that Notre Dame Stadium has always had slash marks in the end zone. It is one of the core traditions?
Right?
As with most subjects having to do with Notre Dame football lore there is the perceived tradition and the truth. A recurring theme for Fighting Irish history is that is it a legend (it is something that actually happened the way we all think) or it is a myth (much like a Hollywood production that starts with ‘Inspired by a true story.’)
I do believe that in any argument, most Notre Dame football fans would insist that Notre Dame Stadium has never had any opponent name in the end zone. You should read on to see where an Irish fan should actually stand on that kind of argument.
First let’s try to establish the earliest version of the end zone design for Notre Dame Football. Take a look at one of the earliest photos of a Notre Dame end zone I can find and it isn’t even in Notre Dame Stadium. This is Cartier Field, home of the Fighting Irish, from 1900 to 1928. This is the field in 1927 against Minnesota.
As you would expect, not a ton of fancy designs necessary for a 1927 football pitch. Those white spots in the far end zone seem to just be mounds of sand that might be filling in a dry spot or a hole in the turf.
An interesting fact is that in 1930, the turf from Cartier Field was transferred to the playing surface of Notre Dame Stadium. That turf then had stripes added to its end zone for the 1930 debut season in the stadium. A lot of stripes.
They are pointing the opposite direction of the current Founders Lines but safe to say that the first season of Notre Dame football in the stadium there were lines in the end zones.
So that is the tradition, correct? Stripes from day one!
Not so fast.
The angled lines continued through the 1940s when some room developed between the lines. They continued to point in the same direction as seen here in 1941.
Jumping ahead to 1951 we see a change in the end zone with the stripes going two different directions, meeting at the midpoint of the end zone.
That same pattern continued until 1969. It was 1970 when the end zone changed in a big way and remained that way for an entire decade.
It was a challenge to find clear photos of the field throughout the 1970s. Most of the photos in our archives are focused on the student-athletes and not necessarily the entire stadium. If you dive into the 1970 season on video the opposing team is given their nickname in the end zone surrounded by a colored box. See the example below for the game against Georgia Tech, taken from a screen capture from the game highlights.
The 1970 season also featured a monogram logo at the 35-yard lines inside a gold circle. This is also when a Notre Dame Leprechaun, inside a gold circle, was introduced in the opposite end zone with ‘FIGHTING IRISH’ along the end zone line.
In 1971, Notre Dame simplified the opposing team name in the end zone, as you can see below ‘Wildcats’ for Northwestern.
The opposing team nicknames did not last long. In 1972, the name was completely removed and a simple ‘VISITORS’ was in one of the end zones along with the leprechaun, staying consistent with the design in the opposite end zone.
In 1973 both end zones shifted to a consistent look on both ends. The leprechaun remains but the ‘FIGHTING IRISH’ was added to both end zone areas and the nickname of a visiting team would not be seen again in The House That Rockne Built.
Moving on to 1978, the design changed again with ‘FIGHTING IRISH’ removed and just the leprechaun remained.
The end of the 1978 season would also mark a return to the slash marks for over a decade. From 1979 through 1989, what most fans would consider the consistent look of Notre Dame Stadium came to be with 10 slash marks in each end zone. That format is shown here from the first night game in Notre Dame Stadium in 1982 against Michigan.
The next change in the end zone design came for the 1990 season when a white monogram was included in each end.
That was followed in the 1991 and 1992 seasons with the University’s sesquicentennial celebration logo in each end zone.
The slashes returned in 1993 and were consistent until the playing surface was replaced with artificial turf before the 2014 season. Here is one of the final looks at the natural surface with 10 slashes in the end zone against Navy from the 2013 season.
Nov. 2, 2013; Notre Dame Stadium during the Navy game, 2013.
Photo by Matt CashoreThen in 2014 the design became what it is today, nine Founders Lines in each end zone and a simple monogram at midfield.
It is legend that for a large majority of the season’s played in Notre Dame Stadium that the end zones had simple slash marks. It is a myth, however, that it has always been that way.
Irish Items
I went long with this first edition of The 42nd Degree. I hope I kept your attention through it all. Irish fans and alumni have already reached out via email when the subscription opportunity went live last week. One thing I will never claim is to be a ‘know-it-all’ about Notre Dame – there are far too many stories, anecdotes and legends for one person to keep up with.
Dan Walsh (‘84) who outranked the heck out of me before retirement from the Navy (I served for four years in the Navy before going to Holy Cross College then Notre Dame) was the first to point out another 42-degree connection with Notre Dame:
“As a navigator in the Navy and science (Physics and Astronomy) teacher, I am familiar with latitude and longitude measurement lines on the earth. Ironically, Notre Dame is situated at 41.7 Degrees North Latitude. So if you round up, Notre Dame is actually at approximately 42 degrees North Latitude. Thereby, making Notre Dame a double 42 degree measure…or 42 degrees squared, if you will.”
The 42nd Degree is written by Alan Wasielewski.
Alan has worked on campus as a member of the athletic communications team and video production unit since his graduation from Notre Dame in 2000.
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