30 Facts About Knute Rockne

Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame.

Knute Rockne is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history.

Knute Rockne helped to popularize the forward pass and made the Notre Dame Fighting Irish a major factor in college football.

In 1931, at the age of 43, Knute Rockne died in a plane crash.

Knute Rockne was born Knut Larsen Rokne, in Voss, Norway, to smith and wagonmaker Lars Knutson Rokne and his wife, Martha Pedersdatter Gjermo.

Knute Rockne immigrated to Chicago with his parents when he was five years old.

Knute Rockne grew up in the Logan Square area of Chicago, on the northwest side of the city.

Knute Rockne learned to play football in his neighborhood and later played end in a local group called the Logan Square Tigers.

Knute Rockne attended Lorenz Brentano elementary school and North West Division High School in Chicago where he played football and ran track.

Knute Rockne was admitted to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana to finish his schooling.

Knute Rockne excelled as a football end there, winning All-American honors in 1913.

Knute Rockne worked as a lifeguard at the Cedar Point park near Sandusky, Ohio in the summer of 1913.

Knute Rockne helped to transform the college game in a single contest.

At Notre Dame, Knute Rockne was educated as a chemist, and he graduated in 1914 with a degree in pharmacy.

Knute Rockne moved to Massillon, Ohio, in 1915 along with former Notre Dame teammate Dorais to play with the professional Massillon Tigers.

Knute Rockne used his charm to court favor from the media, which then consisted of newspapers, wire services and radio stations and networks, to obtain free advertising for Notre Dame football.

Knute Rockne was successful as a promoter for South Bend-based Studebaker and other products.

In Gipp, Knute Rockne had an ideal handler of the forward pass.

Knute Rockne handled the line and Gus Dorais handled the backfield of the 1919 team.

Knute Rockne said he considered his 1930 team to have been his best offensively before the departure of Jumping Joe Savoldi.

Knute Rockne was struck with illness in 1929, and the de facto head coach was assistant Tom Lieb.

Knute Rockne met Bonnie Gwendoline Skiles of Kenton, Ohio, an avid gardener, while the two were employed at Cedar Point.

Knute Rockne converted from Lutheranism to the Catholic Church on November 20,1925.

In 1986 a grandson, Paul Michael Knute Rockne, was killed in the Edmond post office shooting, the deadliest workplace shooting in US history and the deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in the state of Oklahoma.

Knute Rockne had stopped in Kansas City to visit his two sons, Bill and Knute Jr.

King Haakon VII of Norway posthumously knighted Knute Rockne and sent a personal envoy, Olaf Bernts, Norwegian consul in Chicago, to Knute Rockne's funeral.

Knute Rockne was buried in Highland Cemetery in South Bend, the city adjacent to the Notre Dame campus.

In 2024, Knute Rockne was reinterred on the campus of Notre Dame.

Knute Rockne was not the first coach to use the forward pass, but he helped popularize it nationally.

In May 1949, Knute Rockne appeared in the Master Man story on Kid Eternity comics, Vol 1, number 15.