Thankfully Blessed to have Rockne
Notre Dame Dome and Washington Hall at Sunset from War Memorial Fountain, seen from North Quad.
Being thankful on this Thanksgiving seems too trivial. Drawing down on a year paralyzed by a deadly pandemic, buckled by politics dividing entire communities, slammed by mayhem, disorder, distrust and disaster after natural disaster, merely giving thanks over a turkey with football on the tube seems as empty as the stadiums facilitating the games.
I’m thankfully blessed... mortally blessed to have the immortal Knute Rockne in my soul. Without Knute, I wouldn’t have explored the life of a great man who took on the toughest challenges of the toughest sport in its toughest infancy – a great man who defeated opposition at a rate that stands alone to this day on a pair of crippled legs and a body exhausted on the brink of collapse with charm, wit, intelligence, vision, coaching skills never seen before or since, and a will to win by any means necessary.
When I first published “Rockne of Ages” back in June, I felt like I was going into battle with Knute Rockne next to me in the bunker. Knowing that I was also surrounded by book designer Rochelle Day, spiritofknute.com web magician Georges Toumayan, Avi Gvili at Boulevard Books, and friends like Dr. Len Clark (ND Football Heritage Project) and the one and only Jim “Augie” Augustine providing sanctuary at his South Bend institution, Augie’s Locker Room, I knew the spirit of Rockne would lead us out of this year with a rejuvenated sense of hope.
Like Rockne would tell his players, “one play at a time,” it’s still one day at a time. But we have good friends, good support, we’re picking up new readers every day across the country and all over the world, and we have the resurrected spirits of Father John Reynolds and Knute Rockne motivating us with a kick in the ass to never give up.
On this Thanksgiving, “Rockne of Ages” is blessed to be looking forward to 2021.
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