1961 season
64th season of men's interhall football, 2nd season of Mod Interhall
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Season Summary
League Director: Dominic Napolitano
Duration of season: October 7 or 13 ~ December
Total teams: 12
Games scheduled: 28
Interhall champion: Alumni (5-0)
Unknown games: 6
Season schedule
Interhall championship
Interhall
Last month Alumni Hall dramatically wrested the President's Cup away from its usual resting place in Dillon Hall. Facing Father Broestl's array of Dillon talent, Alumni could only tie their opponents. But they were awarded the victory by virtue of first down totals, tallying just one more than Dillon.
Alumni turned back Breen-Phillips in the championship game 26-0. Hoping for an upset, the freshmen champs were hopelessly outclassed. In a game played at the Stadium, Alumni scored four times while holding the freshmen scoreless.
Breen-Phillips earned the right to challenge Alumni by edging sophomore winner Zahm 14-8.
Slick Bucky O'Conner, Alumni's offensive leader from his right half slot, was voted the league's most valuable player. He scored five touchdowns in the six games played. These include the all important score that sank Dillon and also two against Breen-Phillips.
Unknown author, Notre Dame Scholastic Issue No. 9, 15 December 1961Talking points
Pre-season
Over 500 men participated.
Dillon, Alumni, and Off-Campus were the pre-season favorites.
Multiple amalgamated interhall football teams occupied the league for the first time. They were Sorin-Walsh, Badin-Pangborn, and Lyons-St. Edward's. These consolidated teams would become commonplace over the next decade.
Season
In the de-facto Junior/Senior league championship, Alumni and Dillon tie in regulation. Since the game determined who would move on to the interhall championship game, the rule of first downs was invoked. Alumni had one more first down than Dillon, breaking their 19 to 23-game unbeaten streak.
Alumni Stories
Patrick Ward '65
1961 Keenan, 1963-64 Walsh
My freshman year I lived on 3rd floor of Keenan Hall with most of the pre-med students. (I eventually left pre-med and opted later for law). It was amazing to me that the players on my Keenan team and all the others were standouts from their high school days. Many of them had turned down scholarships from lesser schools to attend ND, but they still enjoyed playing football.
As another mentioned, 1963 season (my Junior year) was traumatic because of the assassination of our dearly beloved President JFK. I vividly remember the next year playing defensive tackle next to Pete Woods at defensive end. We improvised a few stunt rushes that nobody else (including our teammates and coach) knew about and were lucky enough to get away with it without any negative effects for our team. To this day, I am always grateful that we had the leather helmets because I believe they 'gave' enough to help cushion us and save us from a lot of concussions.
I remember one practice where I dove into a pile going after a fumble and dislocated my finger. An assistant coach dropped me off in my football gear at St Joe's ER where I waited 1 1/2 hours for a smart ass young doctor to come over and snap it back into place. I then had to try to hitchhike back in uniform carrying my leather helmet so I could hopefully make dinner at the main Dining Hall in time. I often think of those times as some of the happiest in my 4 years at ND.
Anecdote provided 26 July 2025
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