"I played for Stanford Hall my freshmen year which was 1963. I remember our team was pretty good and I believe we played in the championship game. I don’t remember the outcome. Also, the guy, Bob Scheuble, who referred you to me, is a name I cannot recall.

We had a good running back, Mike Conroy, who was our main offensive threat. He moved on to rugby and played it all over the world. Our quarterback, Phil Stinger, and a lineman, Jerry Young, were from the same high school in Detroit and played together in high school. Unfortunately all three of my above teammates are no longer with us.

Our coach was a scholarship football player who, for whatever reason, could no longer perform for the football team. Coaching was one of the ways he was earning his scholarship. I don’t remember his name."

Many of the 1963 Morrissey team began playing together as freshmen in Keenan Hall. Sophomore year, many of us were now residents of of Morrissey Hall. We played pretty well during the 1962 season but did not make the playoffs. As a result, we made a pact to remain in Morrissey and come back for the 1963 season.

In 1963 we got off to a very good start and led the Western Division with a 4-0 record by early November. It was looking like we would be playing Stanford, the Eastern Division champion in the Stadium on Sunday, November 24. We were all looking forward to that. Then, John Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22. The entire campus was in mourning and all of us were numb with sadness. The hall chapels and Sacred Heart were full of students and the grotto was ablaze with candles. Football was the last thing on anyone’s mind. Nonetheless, the playoffs continued but without a championship game in the stadium. On the afternoon of November 22, the day Kennedy was killed, Dillon, who had beaten us 6-0, played Off-Campus. If Dillon had won, they would have been in the championship game with a 4-0-2 record. They played to a 0-0 tie and we were in. I remember standing on the sidelines of that game. It was chilly, overcast, and rainy. We were all playing or watching Interhall football knowing our president had been killed just hours ago. It was somber elation for us to say the least.

The championship game was played on the afternoon of Monday, November 25, the day President Kennedy was buried. The game was played on one of the Interhall football fields behind the old tennis courts. Today, those fields are gone; long ago replaced by handsome campus buildings like the DeBartolo Center. I recall it being another cold and dreary day. As on all regular Sunday games, our high school refs came from the South Bend area. In the Scholastic and Voice accounts, the game was a defensive battle with each team having chances to score but without success. At the end of regulation, the refs told us there would be another 12 minute quarter of running time with the winner being determined by a score or the team with the most first downs. I played running back and recall making a first down on a 79 pitch left. John Capacci, our quarterback, made the other first down. Stanford made only one first down in the quarter and we were the Interhall Football Champions. As I tell friends, we crushed Stanford, 0-0. The Voice account says the game ended in darkness but I recall the clock running out. Regardless, we were quietly joyous, and as always, trooped back to Morrissey to the sound of our cleats clicking on the sidewalks. It was a day of melancholy triumph for us and a requiem for John Kennedy. With Interhall Football, there is no adulation, just the fun of playing a game with your friends who will give you all the small taunts or accolades you deserve.

Here are some recollections from the 1963 season. Our uniforms were vintage 1950s. We had the old Notre Dame Varsity leather football helmets fitted with single or double bar face guards. We had hand-me-down shoulder pads, girdle pads, and football pants. The pullover jerseys had our hall name on them. Teammates I remember were John Capacci, our quarterback. I still have a bumpy right pinky knuckle from one of his practice passes. Don Toomey was our other running back. Walt Desmond was one of our guards. He is also a good friend from San Diego. Each year we, along with our wives, go to a Notre Dame football game in South Bend. Ed Hurley was one of our tackles and our place kicker. Dick Zasada was our coach. He was from Buffalo, New York on a football scholarship but was not playing because of injury. He used to tell me, “Cragg, who do you think you are, Cookie Gilchrest!” We ran a basic T Formation with basic dive, counter, and belly running plays. Our passing game was mostly in the flats with maybe a few downfield. For winning the championship, we each received a gold football key chain fob and a monogram jacket with a gold football patch that says Notre Dame 1963 Champs. It was called the Nappy Bowl because Dominick Napolitano ran the Interhall program along with the Bengal Bouts. That year, the Varsity football team was 2-7, so I considered ourselves the best football team on campus. Next year, the Varsity was 9-1 under new coach Ara Parseghian, and John Huarte won the Heisman Trophy. The era of Ara had begun and we were all retired from Interhall Football, enjoying a real intercollegiate championship season in the Autumn of 1964.