With this memoir, former Notre Dame captain Frank Pomarico shares with readers what it was like to play for legendary coach Ara Parseghian, a leader whose guidance extended beyond the playing field and whose tips still inspire his players. The book culminates with the 1973 Sugar Bowl, the climactic and memorable game between Bear Bryant’s undefeated Alabama squad and Ara’s undefeated Fighting Irish. Pomarico’s story is amplified by interviews with dozens of former players and coaches whose lives were changed by their experience with the coach. Parseghian was one of the most successful college coaches ever, and the young men who played for him learned about much more than just blocking and tackling. Ara’s Knights is the ultimate insiders’ look at one of the great periods in Notre Dame football history.
With this memoir, former Notre Dame captain Frank Pomarico shares with readers what it was like to play for legendary coach Ara Parseghian, a leader whose guidance extended beyond the playing field and whose tips still inspire his players. The book culminates with the 1973 Sugar Bowl, the climactic and memorable game between Bear Bryant’s undefeated Alabama squad and Ara’s undefeated Fighting Irish. Pomarico’s story is amplified by interviews with dozens of former players and coaches whose lives were changed by their experience with the coach. Parseghian was one of the most successful college coaches ever, and the young men who played for him learned about much more than just blocking and tackling. Ara’s Knights is the ultimate insiders’ look at one of the great periods in Notre Dame football history.
Ara's Knights: Ara Parseghian and the Golden Era of Notre Dame Football
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Ara's Knights: Ara Parseghian and the Golden Era of Notre Dame Football
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Overview
With this memoir, former Notre Dame captain Frank Pomarico shares with readers what it was like to play for legendary coach Ara Parseghian, a leader whose guidance extended beyond the playing field and whose tips still inspire his players. The book culminates with the 1973 Sugar Bowl, the climactic and memorable game between Bear Bryant’s undefeated Alabama squad and Ara’s undefeated Fighting Irish. Pomarico’s story is amplified by interviews with dozens of former players and coaches whose lives were changed by their experience with the coach. Parseghian was one of the most successful college coaches ever, and the young men who played for him learned about much more than just blocking and tackling. Ara’s Knights is the ultimate insiders’ look at one of the great periods in Notre Dame football history.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633193277 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2015 |
| Sold by: | INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Ara's Knights
Ara Parseghian and the Golden Era of Notre Dame Football
By Frank Pomarico, Ray Serafin, Thomas Pomarico
Triumph Books
Copyright © 2015 Frank Pomarico and Ray SerafinAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63319-327-7
CHAPTER 1
Playing for Royalty
Playing for Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame was like being a knight in King Arthur's court at Camelot. I felt like I was part of a special group, playing for an exceptional leader. Like Camelot, the Era of Ara would not last forever, but it would always stand out as an extraordinary time.
In writing this book, I interviewed dozens of Ara Parseghian's former players and assistant coaches in order to complement my own experiences and get a well-rounded view of the man, as well as to gain their insights on games, the Notre Dame football program, and campus life. I talked with All-Americans as well as with reserves who rarely got into games. Every single one was eager to talk about Ara's extraordinary leadership qualities and what they learned from him and his dedicated assistants.
Certain words came up again and again when former players and coaches talked about Ara's character: Intense. Disciplined. Intelligent. Prepared. Fair. Loyal. Charismatic. These traits inspired unswerving allegiance to Ara, and to each other. Ara's presence was a huge part of my own Notre Dame experience. His influence continued to shape my life long after my football playing days ended. And the men I talked with shared the same perspective on how he had changed their lives for the better.
I knew I was fortunate to be in a unique situation and that I had a responsibility not only to be a football player, but also to be an ambassador for the school. Duty and service were part of the equation. You should dedicate yourself to doing your job well, not because it would bring you applause, but because it is the right thing to do.
Under Ara, the lessons of the football field were really a first-rate education in how to live a life in which you would make a difference — to your team, your family, your community, and, eventually, to your society. He was concerned with more than just developing football talent. He was a true players coach.
With his wide-ranging intelligence, organizational skill, and charisma, he could have succeeded in business or politics. Given his power to persuade, he could have been an excellent salesman. Instead, he became a legendary coach who resurrected the fortunes of a storied football program that had fallen on lean times.
Ara's 11 seasons at Notre Dame — 1964 to 1974 — coincided with one of the most tumultuous times in the history of American college life. The civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, Watergate — these were events that rocked the world of student-athletes, and indeed all citizens. Unlike some coaches, Ara did not discourage his players from expressing their own views about the wider world. He understood that life was about more than football, but he demanded total dedication during the time set aside for preparation and playing the game.
Coach Parseghian put us in the best position to succeed — and achieve at a level we never realized was possible. He grasped that success depended equally on the strategic and the human elements. He was open to hearing the opinions of others but unafraid to pull the trigger and take responsibility for his decisions.
His plan was to work us hard and develop great pride. I liken it to what my father, John Pomarico, told me about his experience with the Marine Corps. He said that the pride that marines developed at boot camp in Parris Island was so strong that there wasn't anything they couldn't accomplish as a group or an individual. Ara felt that through an effort similar to the Marine Corps boot camp we would became so tight and focused that the betterment of the program was at the top of our priority list. This is what would separate us from other teams. Some of our opponents had better talent, but few had the same kind of commitment that Ara's teams had. He preached that we would have "no breaking point," that we would have faith that we could overcome any circumstance.
Looking out for one another was a high priority. If someone wasn't doing something right, we all had a responsibility to let that person know about it. If a player needed encouragement, we needed to be there for him. Ara's focus was the team, but he also was concerned about the individual player. He felt that our parents had entrusted their sons to him for four years to play football while getting an education and he was responsible to make both things happen.
He placed a high value on loyalty. Ara was extremely fair, and whenever someone is fair he gets back loyalty many times over. Fairness was something that Ara took very seriously. Every night after dinner and meetings, the head coach and his staff would talk about each player, reviewing how the individual did that day and discussing anything that had been noticed in the player's performance or life, whether positive or negative. Players knew that their efforts would be noticed, and rewarded with playing time if warranted.
"To me, Ara deserved all my blood, all my sweat, all my tears, because he cared about me, and I knew that from day one," said Eric Penick, a running back who scored one of the most memorable touchdowns in Notre Dame history. "He cared for each and every one of us. That's who he was. And he picked coaches who cared about us, too."
College athletes face plenty of potential distractions — drugs, alcohol, and the actions and opinions of family, friends, and others. It's very easy to think that accepting someone's invitation to go out and have a beer or get high on pot is harmless, but Ara made the case that in reality it would weaken the program. Listening to anyone who said you should be playing instead of someone else was a recipe for dissension. Our team was a fortress, Ara said, and if we allowed cracks in the wall, the fortress would become weaker and would eventually crumble. We are strongest when everyone is on board, he reminded us.
Ara's explanation of the program and his expectations of us — physically, mentally, and academically — gave us an understanding of how strong our commitment had to be. If we weren't driven like he and the other coaches were, we were in the wrong place. College football was physically and mentally demanding, and if we were not in on both ends, we were going to get beat up.
Coach Parseghian challenged us to show our hunger to play and be successful. That was easy for me because not only was I obsessed with playing for the man, but he also was totally clear on what he and the other coaches expected: work hard, find out everything you need to do to be successful, be fair to coaches and teammates, look out for each other like family, and stay focused on the goals of the team. Ara vowed to never criticize a player to the media, and he expected his players to do the same. This family-like focus created strong bonds.
We won a lot of football games, but there were some gut-wrenching losses, too. Ara instilled in us the need for resilience. The measure of a person was not whether he got knocked down, but rather if he had the character to get back up. And it was out of the ashes of a humiliating defeat that our team found the iron determination to rise to the greatest height.
Ara had an unbelievable ability to hold your attention when he delivered his message. I remember after one such tremendous talk that Dan Morrin, my teammate and roommate, said he was ready to run through a wall.
When Ara spoke to us at the end of practice, he often relayed inspirational words. For example, he liked to cite this quote from Horace Greeley: "Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character." Even though we might be worn out physically, we inevitably left the field feeling good about ourselves and being where we were. We were grateful to be around a head coach who could put things in perspective, imparting lessons not only in blocking and tackling but also in life itself.
"We were the luckiest people in the world to have Ara be a part of our life," said quarterback Joe Theismann. "Ara had a great pulse on everything and he wasn't going to allow you not to be great. He expected it of himself. Everything we became is exactly what he expected of himself. And as much as he influenced our lives, I believe every one of us is a reflection of his."
"In all my life, I have met few people that exuded such class and dignity as Ara," said offensive lineman Steve Quehl, who went on to achieve success as a business leader in the technology area. "He wore it like a well-tailored suit. It hung naturally on him and it raised the level of it in all of us."
Ara was royalty, not because he was born into a family of kings, but because he became a great leader, the kind who inspired the best in those Knights who followed him.
* * *
Ara Raoul Parseghian was born on May 21, 1923, and grew up in Akron, Ohio. He was the son of a French mother and an Armenian father who fled the genocide waged against Armenians in Turkey to come to the United States in 1915. Ara played basketball at a nearby YMCA and would later say that he had a passion for that sport similar to his love for football. In fact, his protective mother wanted him to avoid football, but Ara secretly went out for the team in his junior year at South Akron High School. After winning a spot as starting guard, he had to wear down his parents' resistance to get their written permission in order to play in games. In high school, he starred in both basketball and football, and also played on the golf team — a sport that continued to give him a great deal of pleasure as he went through life. Like many children of immigrants during that era, Ara saw sports as an avenue to success in America.
After graduating from high school in 1942, Ara enrolled at the University of Akron. But with the United States involved in World War II, he soon enlisted in the navy, which sent him for training to Great Lakes Naval Station, north of Chicago. The navy station made great use of the top-notch athletes who were sent there, and its football team competed against service academies and college programs — it even upset No. 1 Notre Dame in 1943. Under Paul Brown, who was in the early days of forging a legendary coaching career, Ara won the starting fullback position going into the 1944 season, but an ankle injury prevented him from playing at Great Lakes.
Postwar, he enrolled at Miami of Ohio, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. In football he earned All-American mention playing halfback under coach Sid Gillman, who would later helm the professional Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and Houston Oilers. Gillman was an innovative coach who helped change the game with an emphasis on deep downfield passing.
When the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football Conference drafted Ara after the 1947 season, he left school and jumped at the second chance to play for Paul Brown. Ara played halfback and defensive back for the Browns but early in his second season suffered a hip injury that brought an end to his playing career. But playing for coaches like Gillman and Brown had helped prepare him to make his mark in football beyond his playing days.
Woody Hayes, then coach at Miami of Ohio, recommended him for a job as coach of the freshman team in 1950. The frosh went 4–0, and Ara was promoted the next year to succeed Hayes, who was leaving to become head coach at Ohio State.
The late Tom Pagna, who played under Ara at Miami and served on his coaching staffs for 16 years, once told me that Ara learned specific skills from his association with legendary coaches Gillman, Brown, and Hayes. Gillman was a technician who timed everything in a play and put a great value on evaluating film before that was a common thing. Paul Brown emphasized the human aspects of the game in addition to being highly organized. And Hayes had a commitment to outworking his opponents.
"Usually, great players are not great coaches," Pagna said. "What came naturally to them is difficult to communicate to a player. But if you were a great player, you could become a great coach if you lost that identity as a player and could see the whole picture. He had that ability, like few people I've ever known, to see the whole picture and be in touch with the players. Ara understood the collegiate mind better than anybody I've ever been around."
In his five years as head coach at Miami, Ara established that he could win. His teams won two Mid-American Conference championships and compiled an overall record of 39–6–1. Tirrel Burton, an outstanding running back at Miami, said Ara already was extremely organized and full of confidence. "He didn't approach coaching by yelling and screaming but from a teaching standpoint," Tirrel recalled. "As players, we wrote out the scouting report in longhand in one of those blue college test notebooks. One coach gave us the formations, another talked about the personnel, and we wrote it down instead of someone printing it and handing it out. We prepared for a game like preparing for an exam."
Miami's record during Ara's tenure included victories against two Big Ten opponents, Indiana and Northwestern. Tirrel said that in the locker room just before the 1955 game at Northwestern, Ara told his team about a conversation he had with the Wildcats coach. Ara said the opposing coach told him not to worry, that Northwestern wouldn't run up the score, he would "call off the dogs." Tirrel said, "Now, whether this was just a motivational thing or not, everybody got fired up. Our coaches had done a great job of preparing us and we felt we were as good as Northwestern." Final score: Miami 25, Northwestern 14.
That 1955 Miami team went 9–0, and the Tangerine Bowl contacted the school to assess its interest in playing in its bowl game in Orlando, Florida. Tirrel said the invitation was contingent on Miami agreeing to leave its black players at home instead of bringing them to the segregated community. "Ara and John Brickels, the athletic director, both said if we can't bring everybody on the team, we're not coming," Tirrel said. That integrity, and that concern for every player, was a basic part of Ara's character that never changed.
Ara's next coaching stop was at Northwestern, which had fallen on hard times, winning only one Big Ten game in the previous three years. In 1955, the campus newspaper went so far as to advocate that the school drop out of the conference. Instead, Northwestern hired Ara to turn its fortunes around. At 32, he was the youngest coach in the Big Ten when he took over for the 1956 season.
"His reputation was for enthusiasm, energy, excitement, for being upbeat," said Mike Stock. Stock, who also grew up in Akron, became an All-American fullback playing for Ara at Northwestern, later worked as an assistant coach for him at both Northwestern and Notre Dame, and was a longtime coach in both college and the NFL. "He was already a person everybody figured was going to be a star," Mike said.
It wasn't long before Ara brought Northwestern back to respectability, as the team went 4–4–1 in 1956. He assembled a staff that included top minds such as Pagna as well as former Miami of Ohio players Doc Urich and Bo Schembechler. Urich went on to become the head coach at the University of Buffalo and Northern Illinois, while Schembechler became head coach at Miami of Ohio and then achieved great success at Michigan.
Ara and Bo, who never coached against each other in a game, remained close and talked to each other often during their careers. According to Greg Blache, who was on Ara's staff at Notre Dame, Ara and Bo would send each other their game film for critiquing and would talk to each other every Sunday during the football season. "Those two were close for years," Blache said. "Ara wanted to be the best, but he didn't have an ego. He was always striving for perfection."
Tirrel Burton not only played for Ara at Miami, he also worked several years as an assistant coach for Bo at Michigan. "Both of those guys were forward thinkers about what football coaching is all about," he said.
Mike Parseghian, Ara's son who played as a reserve running back on the 1974 Notre Dame team before a back injury ended his playing days, confirmed that his father and Bo were friends. "If Dad got a good recruit who couldn't get admitted to Notre Dame, he would shuffle him off to Bo because [Notre Dame] didn't play Michigan back then," said Mike.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Ara's Knights by Frank Pomarico, Ray Serafin, Thomas Pomarico. Copyright © 2015 Frank Pomarico and Ray Serafin. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword by Regis Philbin,Introduction by Gerry DiNardo,
Prologue,
1. Playing for Royalty,
2. Ara Restores the Pride,
3. The Recruits,
4. Freshman Year,
5. The 1970 Season,
6. Lifetime Bonds,
7. Sophomore Year,
8. Game Week,
9. The 1971 Season,
10. Changing Times,
11. Becoming a Knight,
12. Spring and Summer at Notre Dame,
13. The 1972 Season,
14. Lessons in Leadership,
15. Rising From the Ashes,
16. Fall Brings the Driven Spirit,
17. The Special 1973 Season,
18. The Sugar Bowl,
Epilogue,
Acknowledgments,