1970 season
73rd season of men's interhall football, 11th season of Mod Interhall
Season Summary
League Director: Dominic Napolitano
Duration of season: October 4 - November 22
Total teams: 20
Games scheduled: 45
Interhall champion: Dillon (4-1-2)
1970 Dillon Hall football team, interhall champions.
Season schedule
Talking Points
Preseason
600 players sign up to participate.
Regular season
After playing together as a consolidated team in 1969, Grace and St. Edward's played against one another in the first game of the season.
Breen-Phillips defeated St. Joseph Hall of Holy Cross Junior College 40-0 in the most lopsided known game since 1966.
Zahm reigns from the league early in the season, becoming the first team to do so in years.
Sorin did not gain a single first down until their week 4 loss to Off-Campus.
Postseason
A bombshell interhall football article titled "Win One for the Glinner" by J. W. Findling gives an incredible history of Keenan football from 1967 to the current season. It is one of the first articles in interhall history to discuss team trends across multiple seasons. The article was named after Tim McGlinn, the only remaining Keenan team member to have played in the 1967 championship loss to Sorin Hall.
Another article in the same issue of the Observer advocates for the abolition of the rule of first downs, which determines a necessary winner in the event of a tie based on the number of first downs earned. It was written after Morrissey's loss to Dillon, 9 first downs to 5, in the South Quad championship game. It was written by Vince Meconi, a Morrissey resident who would later found the Bookstore Basketball Tournament.
Alumni stories
Joe Fieweger, '71
1967 Cavanaugh, 1968-70 Morrissey
Morrissey Manor had only about 16 -18 guys sign up to play in 1970. I had played for my Cavanaugh Hall team in '67, then Morrissey in '68 & '69. In early Fall we came to the bowels of the old stadium to get old 'varsity' equipment and pads to use for practice and games. It was facinating to see names crossed out on the shoulder pads, like Lujack, Hornung, Hart and even Gipp (none of the pads likely were used by them). But it inspired us.
Our '70 Morrissey team was fortunate to have a set of brothers from the Cleveland area - Jeff and Jim Shula (nephews of Uncle Don Shula). Jeff was our QB, but like most teams with limited numbers, most of us played both ways. We didn't have an offense until Jeff wrote to his Uncle Don (now the head coach of the Miami Dolphins). Uncle Don graciously sent back 3-4 old Baltimore Colt plays which we practiced over and over (behind Sacred Heart Hall). Morrissey did alright that year, as I remember. We did lose to the Champs - Dillon Hall. Dillon was notable because they had pasted the "D" on their helmets from stick-on ads for Drewry's Beer.
Dick Biro, '72
1970-71 Dillon (WR)
First response
I received your E-Mail about Interhall Football at Notre Dame.
I have very fond memories about playing Interhall back in the early 70’s.
I graduated in 1972, exactly 50 years ago, lived in Dillion Hall, and had a Blast playing with my Dormmates. (The University went Co-ed the following year!)
I have been curious how many schools still played tackle football outside of their Varsity program, and you answered that for me – One!
I seem to remember there being 3 programs back in 1972 including ND’s
I Do have some memoirs I can send to you and a photograph of our Team after winning the Campus Championship in 1971. Dillion traditionally had a very strong program.
I will gather these up. In the meantime, please do send me the Observer article. That would be very interesting to me, and might jog some lost memories.
Second response
(Originally hand-typed)
Attached is the photograph of the 1970 Dillon Hall football team after winning the campus championship game, Nov. '70. I remember it being a very COLD and WINDY day. It worked to our advantage though, as we were pinned deep in our own end, and had to punt from the Goal line on 4th down with the wind to our back. Luckily, our punter got off a terrific kick that caught the wind, and sailed over the receiver's head for 70 yards! Got us out of a deep hole. That is me on the end, #9.
As you know, we picked through the equipment after the Varsity. The shoulder pads were scarce, and I had to settle for a former lineman, George Kunz pads. The reason I look so WIDE!
Thomas Hannigan, '74
1970-72 Keenan (WR)
I played three years for Keenan Hall in the Interhall football league — Fall 1970 to 1972. I was a freshman in 1970. We had a good team that year. I can’t remember our record, but we made it all the way to the Interhall championship game against Dillon. At that time, the only games played in the Stadium were the regular season varsity games and the Interhall championship. I recall playing in the Stadium on a very cold Sunday in mid November. It was a close game, but we lost to Dillon. Our kicker was Joe Garigiola Jr. One of our best players was Ray Donovan, an end. A number of our players had excelled in high school and probably could have played college ball at some place other than ND. Playing for Keenan was a great experience and I made many good friends.