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| Image from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division |
A front-page article in the March 6, 1925 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that football genius Knute Rockne gave the address at a Sandusky Kiwanis banquet which was held at the Elks Club on March 4, 1925. The Register article stated, “With raptor like forensic thrust and fairly bubbling with the college athlete spirit, the man who last year coached the first national collegiate football eleven in the nation’s history, gave what was unanimously declared to be the best address scholastic athletes ever heard here.”
Sandusky City Solicitor Edmund H. Savord, a Notre Dame alumnus, introduced Knute Rockne to the crowd of two hundred fifty people. In his opening remarks, Coach Rockne recalled his summers at Cedar Point, where his boss had been J.F. Singler. Rev. William F. Murphy, who had officiated at the wedding of Knute Rockne to Bonnie Skiles, sat next to Rockne at the speaker’s table.
According to Rockne, there were five components of success needed in football. They included brains, ambition, hard work, dependability, and proper psychology. Knute Rockne stated that the ideals of college athletes also “make for better men and better citizenship.” In his closing remarks, Coach Rockne quoted the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “Don’t foul, don’t flinch; and when you hit the line, hit hard.”
Members of the Sandusky High School football and basketball teams attended the banquet. Each of the football players have been identified in this picture from the 1925 Fram, which covered the school year of 1924-1925.
The uniforms of the basketball players for SHS in 1924-25 were quite different from the high school uniforms we see today.
After Coach Rockne’s address, George W. Wiles led the group in singing. Sandusky High School’s “Victory” song was sung by the high school athletes first, and then sung again by all guests at the banquet. Lloyd Weninger, who wrote the words and music to the “Victory” song, was given an ovation.
