FOOTBALL

A Story About A Heisman Trophy Winner

I ran a picture last Friday of a brunch in Los Angeles with Notre Dame football players featuring 1953 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lattner.

So I have to tell my Johnny Lattner story. Before covering USC, I used to go to the Notre Dame game in South Bend and sit in the stands. Back in those days, tickets were difficult to obtain because the stadium held only 59,075 and USC would get around 5,000 tickets.

We usually would go to the game without tickets and try to find something in Chicago. One year, we were in Chicago and went to a bar/restaurant near the Palmer House hotel that was billed as a USC headquarters.

So we’re asking some USC boosters about tickets? Nothing.

Out of the blue, a soft-spoken, older gentleman said he played football at Notre Dame and would be happy to give us a couple tickets. He says his name. Never heard of him. I knew he wasn’t Paul Hornung (probably the only player I knew at the time). I thought at first he said Johnny Lujack because you can’t unremember that name but it wasn’t him.

This was before the Internet and it wasn’t quite so easy to figure out who people were in the past. Plus, when you’re younger, your appreciation for history is probably less. We had a drink with the friendly gentleman and he gave us the tickets. The seats were great and we watched USC lose the game (of course in those days).

His name? Johnny Lattner. A Heisman Trophy winner. A legend. He was too modest to mention any of that to us.

So many questions I now wish I could have asked.

  • Regarding the news Deion Sanders will undergo surgery tomorrow:
  1. Let’s hope he is OK and fully recovers.
  2. Will he coach this season?
  3. Pac-12 media day just got a lot less interesting.

29 thoughts on “A Story About A Heisman Trophy Winner”

    1. Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young's avatar Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young says:

      Cowardly Gabby’s descent into madness accelerates!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. How could anybody not find enjoyment in that great story?…
        #CanYouImagineHavingAConversationWithScott’s”Critic”?#It’dBeLikePlayingPingPongW/PlayerWhoThinksObjectOfGame…
        #…IsToEatTheBall

        Liked by 1 person

      1. Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young's avatar Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young says:

        It’s obvious you are mad. Remember this epic moment of Cowardly Gabby sucking
        up?

        Gabby (original)
        JULY 13, 2023 AT 6:01 PM

        Thanks for sharing your experiences. He must have made an impression on you, your details are still clear after many years.

        Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young
        JULY 14, 2023 AT 1:36 PM
        Look at Cowardly Gabby the hypocrite. She exploded in rage and cursed out Plowhorse for exactly the same thing!

        Plow Horse
        JULY 8, 2023 AT 2:54 AM
        Wow. What are the odds we have 3 regular bloggers attend the 1968 Rose Bowl. I worked with a guy in 1982 who was a cornerback on the Indiana team. I asked him what was his impression of O.J. Simpson. He said “yeah, I meet him in the hole, helmet first, left my impression on him.”

        REPLY
        Gabby (original)
        JULY 8, 2023 AT 3:01 AM
        LIKE YOU FUCKING REMEMBER WORD FOR WORD WHAT A GUY TOLD YOU 40 YEARS AGO…..YET YOU CONVENTILY FORGET YOUR DEBUNKED RANTS OR HOW YOU TALKED SHIT ABOUT ANYONE THAT PROVED YOU WRONG…BUT YOUR OLD LADY IS OFF LIMITS….I SEE WHY YOUR LAW CAREER ENDED EARLY

        Like

    1. so cal….my new name for you is “slo pa-troll” ..every time I post you are on it like stink on shit. You were never known for your speed, but never pass up the opportunity to voice your stupidity….FIGHT ON!

      PS….please, give your boi fake Gabby (aka wolfman) a scolding for the redundant “cut and paste” posting…..call him out, or forever be known as a hypocrite. Prove that you stand behind your words…I am watching!

      Like

      Reply

      1. He posted the same things from other posters over & over again, approximately 3 dozen times (or more)? Then he waited for more people to post things he liked, no matter how inaccurate they were just because they posted things with which he agreed? Then took those posts and added them to previous childish cut & paste jobs of his, wasting TONS of space on the blog?

        THAT would be the same thing. He hasn’t done that.

        Like

      2. Let me get this straight when your favorite person cuts and pastes things about you it’s a waste of space, and when fake Gabby wastes a ton of space with cut and paste that’s perfectly fine because it wasn’t directed at you….interesting!

        Any reasonable person would call that a double standard. Can the blog now label you a hypocrite, you just proved it with your own words.

        Let’s see you spin out of this with more of your nonsense.

        Like

      3. Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young's avatar Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young says:

        Let me get this straight- Cowardly Gabby melts down daily and then thinks no one notices her 2 year old tantrums and then thinks she has any standing here to give lectures on other posters? You need mental help, Coward of the County.

        Like

      4. She’s really not all there. This latest inability to recognize very distinct differences between two examples proves it yet again. It’s rather sad.

        Like

      5. It’s the “act” of “copying and pasting” the content is non-relevant. If someone sprayed painted “fuck you” on a public wall and another painted “I love my wife”, both are guilty of vandalism by the “act” of graffiti.

        slo pa-troll is really not all there. This latest inability to recognize very distinct differences between the two examples proves it yet again. It’s rather sad. The fool will argue all day to prove he won. WATCH!…..WAIT FOR IT 3…2…1 !!!!!

        #sociopath!

        Like

  6. What a wise and kind soul Johnny Lattner was. He was honored as the best in the land that year but, some 3- 4 decades later, he didn’t feel the need to say who he was.

    A slave would stand behind him holding the olive laurel wreath above the conquering tribune and whispering on his ear, over and over, ‘all glory is fleeting!’

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. If the movie went a bit further into Patton’s life, it would be even clearer how true that saying is…
        #PattonDeservedABetterEnding….
        #EisenhowerWasAnAssholeForAllowing[Sending?]CameraCrew…
        #…ToFilmPattonOnHisDeathbed

        Like

  8. Scooter,

    Very nice story. It brought my respect up for him.

    I hope Saunders gets better for the season. I want to see what he will do with his team while he is on the field. I hope he does well this season. Prayers are sent.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Scooter, I like the story about a Japanese national that went to USC and he went back to Japan. The war broke out and he could not get back to the US. He was in the Japanese army. He was stationed on the Battan death march when he saw a japanese solider beating up an American solider. He went to see what was going on. When he got there the soilder told the captain what he saw and he wanted it from the American. He told the soilder to leave and he spoke to the American soilder and saw a ND ring on the American’s finger. He asked if he played for ND and he said back in 1939. The captain then told the American that he went to USC and was at that game. The captain told the American to hide that ring in his boot so it would not get stolen. there is hatred between the two schools but much respect.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

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