This black and white newsreel film from the 1960s titled “Football: The Great Years” looks at the history of the American sport. An Art Lieberman production, this film is narrated by former American football player Frank Leahy who recounts the sport’s history and offers personal anecdotes. The film is composed of film clips that were sourced from Fox Movietone News, Helms Athletic Foundation, and Robert Sands, University of Notre Dame, UCLA, USC, and Western Athletic Conference.

Football game with opening remarks (0:07). Frank Leahy talks to camera (1:55). Origins of football – did not originate at University of Notre Dame (2:04). Harpastum and Ancient Greece (2:29). Julius Caesar (2:44). Football 12th Century England (3:34). Calcio Storico (4:18). King Henry II football ban (4:40). Return of football 17th century (4:59). 1823 Rugby School and Willy Ellis (5:28). Soccer in United Kingdom (6:40). Soccer in Italy (7:00). New Zealand Maori soccer players’ rituals (7:29). Soccer in Russia (8:04). Football in Australia (8:27). American football (9:08). Origin of American intercollegiate football 1869: Princeton vs. Rutgers (10:23). The Boston Game (10:48). 1870s Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard join (10:56). 1874 McGill – Harvard Series (11:15). 1876 first intercollegiate football association (11:59). Walter Camp (12:16). 1905 casualties in American football – loss of public support (13:32). Teddy Roosevelt saves American football – 1906 Intercollegiate Rules Committee (13:38). Forward Pass (14:20). Locker room game strategy pep-talk by coach Knute Rockne (15:00). Amos Alonzo Stagg – head coach University of Chicago (17:31). Stagg moves to College of the Pacific (18:35). Coach Fielding H. Yost and the Michigan Wolverines (19:49). 1902 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California: University of Michigan vs. Stanford (20:24). Coach Pop Warner – University of Georgia to Carlisle College (20:36). Jim Thorpe (21:03). Pop Warner Leagues (22:01). Robert Zuppke of Illinois (22:05). Red Grange (22:30). Notre Dame (22:54). Gus Dorais (23:05). Notre Dame vs. West Point 1920 (23:15). Knute Rockne career (23:41). The Notre Dame Box (24:02). 1922 “The Four Horsemen”: Harry Stuhldreher, Elmer Layden, Jim Crowley, Don Miller (24:25). Frank Leahy career (25:09). Notre Dame practice drills (25:15). Knute Rockne retirement and death (28:56). Frank Cavanaugh – Boston College, Dartmouth, Fordham (29:20). Fritz Crisler of Michigan (29:30). Bernie Bierman of Minnesota (29:40). Clark Shaughnessy, the T Formation, and the Chicago Bears (29:53). Clark Shaughnessy at Stanford (30:35). Frankie Albert (30:45). Pete Kamatovic (30:48). Army Black Knights Football (31:43). Army Coach Early Blake during World War II (31:49). Coach Bud Wilkinson and Oklahoma (32:28). Jim Owens (32:52). Darrelll Royal (32:54). Leon Heap (32:55). Billy Vessels (32:57). Coach Ara Parseghian (33:31). Rose Bowl Festival of Flowers in Pasadena (34:25). 1929 Rose Bowl (Georgia Tech vs. University of California) and Ron “Wrong Way” Riegels (35:14). USC vs. Duke University and Doyle Nave (35:56). Spectator fight (36:48). Tom Harmon evades drunken fan Harold Brennan (37:14). Andy Smith and California teams (38:11). Forest Evashevski (38:22). Bob Westfall (38:23). Al Wistert (38:25). Elmer Madar (38:27). Ohio State vs. Michigan (38:31). 1940s top teams: Boston College, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Stanford (38:45). Rose Bowl 1941 (38:50). Card Stunt origins – UCLA or USC (39:11). Army vs. Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium (40:32). Doc Blanchard (41:11). Arnold Tucker (41:13). Football in the 1950s:

Oklahoma, Texas, and Michigan State (41:52). Women’s team at Upsala College (43:12). Arch Ward The Chicago Tribune (43:50). American Football League All-Star Game (44:15). Football uniform (45:07). Career Olympian Jim Thorpe (45:39). Ernie Nevers (45:49). Jay Berwanger (45:57). Sammy Baugh (46:07). Wilford White player, Rhodes Scholar, Supreme Court Justice (46:18). Cotton Bowl 1949: Southern Methodist vs. Oregon (46:35). Kyle Rote (46:37). Dick Kazmaier (46:47). Ernie Davis of Syracuse University (46:52). John Huarte (47:09). Notre Dame vs. USC 1964 (47:18). John McKay (47:41).