This week’s edition of The 42nd Degree will launch a recurring feature.
The Notre Dame football program doesn’t retire numbers. It would be impossible, because pretty much every number would be retired by now and we might have players wearing numbers like 3B or 9T.
That doesn’t mean we can’t spend time trying to determine who was the best to wear each number in the history of Notre Dame football. We can break down the candidates, the accolades and the signature moments of those student-athletes who have worn each number at Notre Dame. I will present the cases, then allow you, the reader, to determine who wore each number the best.
A few guidelines:
- A student-athlete has to have worn the number for a majority of their time at Notre Dame. Those that switch numbers back and forth during their time might have eliminated their candidacy for this particular list.
- There will be numbers when both an offensive and defensive player will be considered. The two sides of the ball, the plays they create and the statistics they create are too different to compare, say a quarterback and a defensive back.
- Statistics cannot tell the whole story. Notre Dame’s football history spans 138 seasons. The statistical record keeping of today’s game cannot overshadow legendary players who might not have numbers to back up their candidacy.
- We are going to start with #1 because the #0 has only been active in college football a couple of seasons.
- Current student-athletes will not be considered for this but can be added in the future.
THE CANDIDATES (OFFENSE)
Fred Collins, FB, 1925-28
Career Stats: Unavailable. Collins scored three career touchdowns, including the first two in a 26-7 victory over Georgia Tech in 1927.
Collins had bad luck on the injury front, playing with a broken wrist that earned him the moniker ‘Iron Mitt.’ He played in one of the most famous Notre Dame victories of all-time, the 1928 ‘Win One For The Gipper’ 12-6 victory over Army in Yankee Stadium. He possibly saved that game (see THE MOMENTS) with a huge tackle that might have made up for his fumble at the goal line earlier in the contest. We all can give him a pass on that, the guy was wearing an ‘Iron Mitt.’
Chester ‘Chet’ Grant, QB, 1916, 1920-21
Career Stats: Unavailable. He scored three career touchdowns all from more than 40 yards away. His 95-yard punt return in 1916 was a record for over 70 years (see THE MOMENTS). That is just the tip of the iceberg for Grant’s amazing career. He was an editor of The South Bend News-Times at 18 years old. He conducted an interview with Notre Dame head coach Jesse Harper, who convinced him to go out for football at Notre Dame. He played in 1916, then served in World War I before returning to campus to share the backfield with George Gipp. He was the starting quarterback for the 10-1 1921 team, was an assistant coach at Notre Dame under Elmer Layden, coached baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, wrote two Notre Dame football books and served as the Notre Dame sports collection and archivist at the University.
Derrick Mayes, WR, 1992-95
Career Stats: 129 receptions, 2,512 reception yards and 22 touchdowns (add on four more touchdowns in bowl games). A 1994 Third-Team All-American and 1995 First-Team All-American by Football News and UPI.
Upon the completion of his career at Notre Dame, Mayes held the program record for receiving yardage and touchdown receptions. Memorable game performances include two catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns his freshman season at Pittsburgh, three catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns in 1993 at Stanford, a heroic 7 catches for 147 yards in Notre Dame’s furious, but ultimately unsuccessful, come back against Boston College in ‘93 and eight catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns against Air Force in 1994.