Embedded Files
An unofficial repository of records and extraordinary stories from an intramural football program at the University of Notre Dame
"The first time you wander behind Continuing Education on an autumn Sunday, you think you've walked into one of those quaint football movies that are shown on late television, and you wonder where ol' 98, Tom Haimon, is, or maybe it was Crazylegs Hirsch who starred in this epic. Everything from the players' obsolete helmets to the mingling of participants and spectators on the sidelines suggest that you are no longer in the blasé age of the jet set. So bring in two unbeaten powerhouses with archaic names like Morrissey and Zahm to battle for the championship of an obscure conference called League III, and you've got a throwback to what football untainted by commercialism must have been; you've got a Notre Dame interhall football game."
-Ray Serafin, "Zahmbies Get a Scare", Notre Dame Scholastic, 17 November 1967
What is interhall football?
"Interhall football" is the highest level of intramural football at the University of Notre Dame. Each intramural team represents their residence hall, hence the term interHALL. Seventeen halls, plus an "Off-Campus" team for those living off university grounds, form the men's interhall football league (MIFL). The women's interhall football league, established in 1972 with the onset of co-education at Notre Dame, is comprised of sixteen teams. The halls are divided into divisions with a round-robin schedule of four to six games, depending on the number of teams in each division. The best teams advance to the playoffs, where they vie for the coveted interhall championship. While most games can be found on one of Notre Dame's many, many auxiliary football fields, the championship is traditionally decided in Notre Dame Stadium.
Many other colleges also support their own intramural football leagues. However, what sets interhall apart from any other collegiate program in the country is a commitment to playing full pads, 11-on-11, tackle football. After West Point and the Naval Academy discontinued their contact programs in the 1990s, Notre Dame became the last remaining post-secondary school to offer intramural tackle football in any capacity. This is yet another purely unique aspect of the N. D. experience!
History
Interhall football at Notre Dame has been consistently outshone by its gold and blue counterparts inside the Stadium, and understandably so. The Fighting Irish are among the most storied programs in college football history, holding records in All-American selections, NFL draft picks, and College Football Hall of Fame inductees. However, the story of Notre Dame football as it is told today omits a unique aspect that sets Notre Dame apart from other colleges with major college football — its Interhall Football League. The men, and eventually women, who have occupied the Interhall Football League over the past 130 years have made the program worth remembering. To best explain the full extent of this league, I have divided its history into eight eras. Click on an era below for a description of the period, major developments, new interhall football teams, and notable players.
1970 Dillon Hall football team, interhall champions.
Seasons
Since 1890, there have been 124 recognized seasons of men's interhall football at Notre Dame. Beginning with co-education in 1972, 50 women's interhall football seasons have come and gone as well. The most important entry under each year is the season schedule, which documents all round-robin regular season games, as well as the post-season tournament that the top teams in each division compete in for the interhall championship. There are also a number of other sections which are periodically added based on the year that the season took place. Starting in 1950, a "talking points" section features notable details, updates, clarifications, and even controversies. The first "Alumni Stories" accounts begin in the 1950s as well, adding a personal touch that goes beyond the results found in the Observer and the Notre Dame Scholastic.
Men
1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 2021
1892 1902 1912 1922 1932 1942 1952 1962 1972 1982 1992 2002 2012 2022
1893 1903 1913 1923 1933 1943 1953 1963 1973 1983 1993 2003 2013
1894 1904 1914 1924 1934 1944 1954 1964 1974 1984 1994 2004 2014
1895 1905 1915 1925 1935 1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015
1896 1906 1916 1926 1936 1946 1956 1966 1976 1986 1996 2006 2016
1897 1907 1917 1927 1937 1947 1957 1967 1977 1987 1997 2007 2017
1898 1908 1918 1928 1938 1948 1958 1968 1978 1988 1998 2008 2018
1899 1909 1919 1929 1939 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 2009 2019
Stories
The Observer and the Scholastic have been great resources for the games and scores recorded in the interhall database. The unique story of interhall football, however, can best be told only through the experiences of its players, coaches, and associates. Thanks to their efforts, you can now read some of the incredible stories that have characterized the interhall football league through the post-World War II era.
Want to write a story of your own? Email your anecdote to interhallfootball@gmail.com and become a distinguished contributor to this site!
Guidelines for stories:
Must include name, graduation year, residence hall(s), and active season(s).
Recommend adding what positions you played.
Inclusion of additional personal information is left to the writer's own discretion.
You are free to write anything you want as it relates to the interhall football program.
There is no word limit. Write as much as you want!
Common topics:
Games: a great win, a brutal loss, or a rivalry match.
Players: a star athlete, maybe even someone who became a walk-on for the Fighting Irish.
Plays: a memorable in-game moment, or an analysis of why a play was called.
Progress: a broad summary of how your hall performed during a season or over your career.
Sue Augustus ('77)
Farley 1973, Lyons 1975-76
"Perhaps the most unique and ultimately career boosting benefit of playing interhall football came in 2001 when I was interviewing for a position at the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). The Chief Operating Officer at CSH was Steve Thomas. During the interview (on the phone) he asked if I was the same Sue Augustus who played interhall football - turns out Steve had been my coach senior year and I had not put two and two together. Long story short- I was hired and Steve told everyone that it was because I had been a fast and aggressive football player (not endearing to the non-football fans in the office). I spent 14 years at CSH."
Response edited for length. Full version available in the Stories section.Goal: at least one story for every season !
Men
1950s: 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959
1960s: 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969
1970s: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979
1980s: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989
1990s: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
2000s: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
2010s: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
2020s: 2021, 2022
Women
1970s: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979
1980s: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989
1990s: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
2000s: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
2010s: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
2020s: 2021, 2022
Halls
There are 32 active undergraduate residence halls at the University of Notre Dame. Seventeen for men, and fifteen for women. The halls are the lifeblood of intramural competition at Notre Dame, hosting dozens of interhall and sectional sports teams every year for over a century. The oldest continually used residence is Sorin Hall, debuting in 1888. The most recent addition is Johnson Family Hall, first opened for the 2020-21 schoolyear. Additionally, nine former residence halls have been repurposed or demolished, the most recent being Zahm Hall. Whether you are a Dawg, a Rambler, a Shamrock, or a Screamin' Otter, it is impossible to deny that you simply cannot maintain an interhall football league without a hall to call home.
Sorin Hall
1908 Dome Yearbook. Public Domain.
Stanford Hall
Photograph provided by Christopher DeVito. c. 1984.
Badin Hall
Photograph provided by Gray Nocjar. Own image.Legends
The legend of Notre Dame football was built from unforgettable moments, the exploits of extraordinary players, and the dominant teams on which they played. The legend of interhall football is similar in these respects, although the stories of those events have remained in the shadows for decades. That changes now.
The Legends section highlights important moments in interhall history, such as the time that a group of students tore down a goalpost after the 1926 Army game and sold the pieces on campus to pay for the medical bills of John Eagen, who had injured his leg in an interhall football game and was in danger of losing his tuition to cover the costs. The section also includes a list of people who were revolutionary in the development of interhall football, such as early administrator Br. Paul, C.S.C., and longtime interhall coach Dr. James "Doc" Carberry.
Photograph provided by Chris DeVito. c. 1984.
Photograph provided by Charles Conway (front row, 4th from left)
About
Welcome to the Interhall Football Bible! My name is Gray Nocjar. I am the son of a class of 1995 Notre Dame undergraduate and the grandson of a class of 1973 Notre Dame Law School graduate. On December 16, 2022, I was honored with the chance to continue that legacy in the class of 2027! Also, go Knights!
When I launched this project on August 17th, 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had no idea what it would become. I had heard stories of the interhall football program from my dad and his college roommates, but I had never thought much about it until I stumbled upon a game in the old South Bend News-Times. It was scheduled to be the first match of the 1914 season: the Badin Saints versus the Sorin Bookies. However, the game was cancelled. What piqued my interest was that it was called off because varsity football players were discovered on not one, but both intramural rosters. Over the next two years, that one contest turned into thousands of games, names, stories, and legends.
Originally, I displayed all of my research on a Wikipedia page. I planned to publish that article eventually, but when the size of the document began to crash my computer, I realized that would be impractical. Instead, I looked for an alternative method to present everything I had discovered to the Irish community. I toyed around with a book at first, but I did not like the idea of something set in stone. Interhall football is a living organization, even in its modern flag football days, and I wanted my database to reflect that.
Eventually I decided that a website would be my best option. Two years later, I am thrilled and relieved to open this database to the public! I would like to thank my parents, the Notre Dame RecSports department, the kind staff at Notre Dame Archives, and the alumni who took the time to write a story about their interhall experience. I hope that everyone associated with interhall football finds as much fun in exploring and reminiscing as I have had researching and producing. Go Irish!
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