User:Murphanian777/Interhall football: The Leather Age Collapse (1936-1939)

This is the fourth era of interhall football at the University of Notre Dame. It first dark age began with the onset of interhall touch football to the University and ended with the last year before tackle football returned in the 1940s. The second dark age was composed of the last two years of World War II, when no intramural football games of any kind were played (although the varsity reserves were still functioning, so NDNV activity persevered). Alternate names include: The Ice Age. -The ____ Age Collapse: like the Bronze Age Collapse. This is perfect. After a blessed period of interhall prosperity, in the blink of an eye all intramural tackle football at Notre Dame was gone, and I still don't know why. Incorporating the Gold and Platinum Coasts would be cool too.

The catalyst of the Leather Age Collapse was the death of Richard "Dick" Sullivan after a neck injury suffered in an interhall football game (Freshman v. St. Edward's) on November 17, 1935. His passing at St. Joseph's Hospital a week later culminated in a full-scale investigation into the practices of interhall athletics led by head coach Elmer Layden. In the following 1936 season a number of reforms and restrictions were instituted, including safer league rules, team sizes and eligibility requirements. Many students disapproved of the new regulations and it is unclear if any games were played that season. By 1937 the protests by prospective players forced the IFL to go on hiatus for three years, and in its place sprung up the first touch football and later interclass football leagues, the former of which would become a regular attraction at Notre Dame until the present day. Other distinctions which made the collapse an important event was the drop-off of overall talent and the harsh decline of players who made the jump from interhall to the varsity team. By 1940 the interhall football league was no longer recognized as a junior or freshmen league for the future stars of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Other Eras

 * Original Page (1887-1952)


 * The Mythical Period (1890-1902)
 * Formative Years (1903-1921)
 * Rockne Romana (1922-1935)
 * The Leather Age Collapse (1936-1939)
 * The War (1940-1945)
 * The Napolitonic Years (1946-1961)
 * Mod Interhall (1962-1971)
 * Co-ed Era (1972-1990)
 * Era of Aaron (1991-

Other pages

 * List of Interhall football champions
 * List of Dillon Hall quarterbacks

Other teams

 * Preliminary football (1869-1891)
 * Varsity Reserves (1887-1980s)
 * Minim Department (1887-1929)
 * Junior Department (1888-1921)
 * Varsity Frosh (1913-1971)
 * Old-Timers game (1929-1967)
 * Blue-Gold game (1968-present)

Interhall tackle football
Elvin R. Handy, a member of the department of physical education, supervised interhall football during the 1936 season. The head of the physical education department imposed a new set of strict rules to govern interhall football after the death of Richard Sullivan during an interhall game the previous year. Some of these were that a team must have 22 players, and at least 18 ready to play on the field before each contest. Additionally, each player must undergo a physical examination between games and appear at practice three times a week.

The interhall season was shown very little interest just two days before it was scheduled to begin. By October 9th only one team, Off-Campus, had enough men to play, and only five uniforms had been issued. By the next week the opening had been delayed until October 18 and four teams had organized and gathered enough men to meet the new minimums, Howard, Off-Campus, Sorin, and Walsh. The season was eventually ready to begin on October 25 with six teams, the lowest membership in the league since 1919. Reasons for the disinterest vary, but the strongest accounts cite the new regulations and the emergence of interhall touch football, soccer, and speedball as the most influential factors.

After October 23, there were no mentions of games played or scheduled. This absence in coverage in any known University publications during the year indicates that the interhall football season was almost certainly cancelled due to a lack of available teams and overall interest. It was the first time no interhall football games had been played since the 1891/1892 season.

Brownson Hall
Brownson was supposed to have been coached by Galleta.

Cavanaugh Hall
Brownson was supposed to have been coached by Collins.

Freshman Hall
Brownson was supposed to have been coached by Strand.

Morrissey Hall
Brownson was supposed to have been coached by Conrad.

Off-Campus team
Brownson was supposed to have been coached by Jasinki.

St. Edward's Hall
Brownson was supposed to have been coached by Langton.

All-Interhall
As there were no known interhall football games during the 1936 season, no All-Interhall teams were selected.

Interhall touch football
Touch football (also known as flash-ball ), after years of informal games, was made an official interhall sport by John A. Scannell for the 1936 season. Rules included a twenty-five-yard penalty if a player "leaves their feet" when attempting to touch someone, a player was considered tackled when someone touches them with two hands, tackling was considered a twenty-five-yard penalty, and quarters were shortened from fifteen to ten minutes. However, after many delays, no mention was made of any scores or games of any kind, almost guaranteeing that the season had been cancelled.

Interhall touch football
Interhall touch was introduced again under John Scannell along with the continuation of interhall soccer, taking the place of interhall tackle football as the main intramural sports spectacle on campus. Some new rules were introduced to the touch league, including 20-yard first-downs, a standard of nine men per team on the field, and that any man would be eligible for a forward pass. Penalties were given for leaving the ground when recovering a fumbles or touching an opponent. After two weeks of pre-season practice, the touch football season began with a single game between Badin and Freshman halls, the rest being postponed or cancelled due to the snow, rain, and the weekly football cotillion. After the first week, Mr. Scannell decided to reorganize the format of the touch league from a divisional round-robin to a more traditional, elimination-style tournament. However, the tournament was postponed because of various student trips to Minneapolis and Chicago. "Touch-ball" as it was called, continued to sag as the first round was postponed another three times, first because of an influx of visitors to the University for the Notre Dame-Pitt game, and the next two weeks due to snowy weather. By December 10, all outdoor interhall activities had been officially cancelled, putting an end to any attempts to play football. The 1937 season ended with only a single regular season game being played, and even that may not have been considered a regulation game due to a shift in the league tournament.

Badin Hall
Badin, like any of the other halls, only fielded a touch-football team during the 1937 season. They participated in the only recorded regular-season game, and defeated the favored-Freshman hallers 6 to 2. Therefore, they have the best claim to be 1937 interhall touch football champions. The last time that only a single interhall football game had been played during a whole season was in 1918 during the University's involvement in the war effort. Coincidentally, Badin was one of the two teams that played in that singular game, losing 12–0 to Walsh hall.

Interhall touch football
Touch football continued to serve as the only interhall version of football during the 1938 season. It was colloquially known as the Pass-Football League. Many of the freshmen residence halls fielded two football teams during the season, distinguished as the golds or blues.

Zahm Hall
Zahm fielded two interhall football teams during the 1938 season, the blues and the golds. The golds finished with a 2–1 record, the combined blue and gold team defeated Cavanaugh in the semi-finals, and the Zahm blues compiled a 4–0 record and became the 1938 interhall touch football champions.

Interhall touch football
Touch football, as well as every other interhall sport during the fall season, were originally cancelled by the Student Activities Council in late September. A lack of equipment was cited as the leading reason for the cancellation.

Interclass football
Overdue equipment finally arrived at the University in late November, including 210 new uniforms and 150 helmets. This prompted the S.A.C. to devise a short schedule for an intramural fall football season. Instead of creating a tournament between the various residence halls, the committee decided to form an interclass football tournament, with a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior team. An article that explained the re-introduction of intramural football confirmed that the last few seasons had been tumultuous because of injuries that occurred during the fateful 1935 season, likely in reference to the death of Richard Sullivan. Only men that were 150 pounds or less were permitted to participate in the interclass season, effectively barring any varsity members from adding unfair talent to the intramural season and allowing "lightweights" to get a chance to play football at Notre Dame. The league purposely mirrored the lightweight football teams that had sprung up in some eastern colleges, a type of distinction that would eventually become known as Sprint football. To avoid any confusion in the next season, the S. A. C. announced that interhall football would return in it's traditional format.

Interclass Freshmen
A team representing the freshmen class competed in a short inter-class lightweight football league during the 1939 season. Under coaches Joe DeFranco, Joe Thesing and Thad Harvey, the frosh compiled a 1–1–1 record and lost to the juniors in the interclass championship.

Sophomores
A team representing the sophomore class competed in a short inter-class lightweight football league during the 1939 season. Under coaches Wally Borer and Mike Corgan, the sophomores compiled a 0–1–1 record.

Juniors
A team representing the junior class competed in a short inter-class lightweight football league during the 1939 season. Under coach Frank "Boody" Albert, the juniors compiled a 2–0–1 record, defeating the freshmen to become 1939 interclass champions. The juniors were awarded twenty-five medals, twenty-four of which were bestowed upon the players and one for their coach.

Seniors
A team representing the senior class competed in a short inter-class lightweight football league during the 1939 season. Under coaches Alan Mooney and Bob Sullivan, the seniors compiled a 0–1–1 record.