On December 4 1947 1947 Heisman winner Johnny Lujack
Johnny Lujack was one of the great athletes in Notre Dame history, and certainly among the school’s finest football players. But there was little reason to expect that when he arrived in South Bend from Connellsville, Pa. Lujack himself was pleasantly surprised that coach Frank Leahy offered him a scholarship. He was not an all-state football player. He was all-county, but as Lujack once said, “They found out later that we were the only high school in the county.” Once at Notre Dame, it didn’t take him long to make an impact — first on defense. In a scrimmage against the varsity, the freshman made a number of tackles to make himself known to the coaching staff. After backing up 1943 Heisman winner Angelo Bertelli at quarterback, Lujack took over the job in ’44 when Bertelli was called into military service. Then after spending two years of his own in the military, Lujack returned and was a star QB. Notre Dame went 17-0-1 with Lujack as its starting quarterback — and he saved the one tie as well. His open-field tackle of Army hero Doc Blanchard helped preserve a 0-0 tie against the nation’s No. 1 team. In the end, the Fighting Irish were named national champions in 1946 and ’47. But that was only part of Lujack’s athletic body of work. He lettered in four sports (including basketball, baseball and track) and had one memorable spring day as a multitasking stud. “My first baseball game I got two singles and a triple out of four times up,” Lujack told Notre Dame’s Observer newspaper. “In between the innings, I won the high jump and javelin in track, so my roommate, being a very comical guy, said, ‘If you get dressed real quick, I know where there’s a swimming meet.’ ”
— Pat Forde
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