Knute Rockne at Bell Field.

Even though Oregon State and Notre Dame have never met on the football field, OSU and Corvallis have a very interesting historical connection to the Fighting Irish of South Bend. It happened in the 20s, over the summers from 1924-28. For two weeks each of those years, famed Irish coach Knute (Kenneth) Rockne served as a member of Oregon State's summer term faculty.

Conducting lectures in classrooms and demonstrations on the sawdust turf of old Bell Field, Rockne entertained coaches from all over the West Coast itching for a chance to pick up a few pointers from the man responsible for building what was at time the best football program in America.

Rockne was literally at the height of his fame during his four-year stint in Corvallis. His 1919 and 1920 squads were unbeaten (he turned in five of these in his career). He had won a national championship in 1924 and would win one again in '29. In 1922 he had introduced the world to four running backs sportswriter Grantland Rice would a few seasons later turn into "Four Horsemen." In 1925, his boys had crushed a good Stanford team in the Rose Bowl 27-10.

Rockne loved a crowd and he was both teacher and entertainer when he made any kind of public appearance. The public soon began to realize this man did more than build elite athletes. It was also his aim to teach a certain ethical attitude towards life, in other words, the values young people should carry with them through life. He rarely did an interview, write an article, or teach a coaches clinic without touching on this subject.

OSU in the 20s was certainly not in the mainstream of America's football culture and this fact begs the obvious question: why would a football coach who could go anywhere in the country decide to come to Corvallis to teach, not just once but four times?

The full answer may never be known but it is almost certain much of his motivation was centered around three special friendships he had with member of the OSU coaching staff: OSU Head Coach Paul Schissler, former OSU Head Coach and Notre Dame football star Sam Dolan, and OSU Head Track Coach and Trainer Michael "Dad" Butler.

Rockne, second from right, and Oregon State coach Paul Schissler, center, attended a football clinic in 1925. Photo courtesy of Jeremiah R. Scott, Jr.

Rockne and Schissler first met in 1923 when Schissler's Lombard College eleven lost a hard-fought game to Notre Dame 14-0, the only loss the future OSU coach would suffer at the small Illinois school of 350 students. Later, Rockne wrote a letter of recommendation for Schissler for the Corvallis job and when the Beavers traveled to New York to play New York University in Yankee Stadium in 1926, Rockne made a 200-mile roundtrip to visit Schissler's team during a mid-trip workout at Chicago's Soldier Field.

Sam Dolan, Oregon State head football coach from 1911-13, was a star football player for the Fighting Irish and was still well-known around South Bend long after his departure. Rockne knew him also and always called him "Rosey."

Michael "Dad" Butler knew Rockne as a boy and had actually served as the young man's coach for a time at the Chicago Athletic Club, where Butler was the manager. The likeable track coach would later leave OSU to go to Detroit where he was one of three ring-side judges at a 1939 Joe Louis world heavyweight championship fight in that city.

--George Edmonston, Jr.