Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 6, 1994 TAG: 9409070105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JACK SAYLOR KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Certainly, as lifeguards go, their size was less than attention-getting. The lad who threw the plump ball in such a smooth spiral, Gus Dorais, stood only 5 feet 7, 145 pounds.
And the kid who galloped through the sand to gather in these tosses so adroitly was 5-8, 165. Still, Knute Rockne had been a starting end on two unbeaten teams at Notre Dame.
When summer ended, the buddies returned to South Bend, Ind., for their senior season with new coach Jesse Harper.
Together, they launched a revolution in college football.
The forward pass had been legalized in 1906, but it was attempted sparingly in the next few years. A regulation ball was adopted in 1912 - 221/2 to 23 inches around the middle, compared to 203/4 to 211/4 today - and Dorais and Rockne practiced with it while working the next year in Ohio.
Before Notre Dame played Army - Nov. 1, 1913, at West Point - Rockne and Dorais talked Harper into using their summer-honed talents. The Irish came out passing, shocking the Cadets in the first game between the teams.
Dorais completed 14 of 17 passes for 243 yards in a 35-13 victory. No one had ever thrown like that before.
Rockne made a 40-yard reception, the longest completion to that day.
On Notre Dame's first possession, Rockne recalled, Army's ``guards and tackles were tumbling into us to stop line bucks and plunges. Instead, Dorais stepped neatly back and flipped the ball to an uncovered end or halfback.''
The liberal use of the pass created a stir throughout the nation.
``The press and the football public hailed this new game, and Notre Dame received credit as the originator of a style of play that we simply systematized,'' Rockne said.
The Irish finished the season 7-0. Five years later, Rockne replaced Harper and created another legend - as a coach.
by CNB