1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
National champion (various selectors)
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 2
Record	9–0–1
Head coach	Frank Leahy (11th season);
Captain	Don Penza
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
	Seasons ← 1952 1954 →

1953 Midwestern college football independents records
v t e	Conf.			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 2 Notre Dame		–		9	–	0	–	1
Cincinnati		–		9	–	1	–	0
Carthage		–		8	–	1	–	0
Youngstown		–		7	–	1	–	0
John Carroll		–		7	–	2	–	0
Washington University		–		7	–	2	–	0
Rose Poly		–		6	–	2	–	0
Wabash		–		6	–	2	–	1
Marquette		–		6	–	3	–	1
Baldwin–Wallace		–		4	–	4	–	0
Drake		–		4	–	4	–	0
Wayne		–		3	–	4	–	1
Dayton		–		3	–	5	–	1
Michigan Tech		–		2	–	5	–	0
Xavier		–		2	–	7	–	1

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1953 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1953 college football season. Led by Frank Leahy in his 11th and final season as head coach, the Fighting Irish compiled a record of 9–0–1. John Lattner won the Heisman Trophy although he did not even lead the Irish in passing, rushing, receiving or scoring.^[1] Lattner held the Notre Dame record for all-purpose yards until Vagas Ferguson broke it in 1979.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 26	at No. 6 Oklahoma	No. 1	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	W 28–21	59,500
October 3	at Purdue	No. 1	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (rivalry)	W 37–7	49,135
October 17	No. 15 Pittsburgh	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 23–14	57,998
October 24	No. 4 Georgia Tech	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 27–14	58,254	^[2]
October 31	No. 20 Navy	No. 1	Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 38–7	58,154
November 7	at Penn	No. 1	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	W 28–20	69,071	^[3]
November 14	at North Carolina	No. 1	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	W 34–14	43,000	^[4]
November 21	No. 20 Iowa	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	T 14–14	56,478
November 28	at No. 20 USC	No. 2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	W 48–14	97,952
December 5	SMU	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 40–14	55,522	^[5]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster (Asterisk * Denotes Offensive Starter)

QB Ralph Gugliemi*
QB Don Schaefer
QB Tom Carey
RB Neil Worden*
RB Joe Heap*
RB Dick Fitzgerald
RB Johnny Lattner
RB Tommy McHugh
RB Dick Washington
RB Dick Keller
RB Nick Raich
RB Bob Rigali
RB Jim Bigelow
RB Fran Paterra
RB Armando Galardo
RB Joe Markowski
WR, DE Don Penza*
WR Dan Shannon*
WR Paul Matz
WR Walter Cabral
WR Don George
WR Gene Kapish
OL Art Hunter*
OL Ray Lemek*
OL Menil "Minnie" Mavraides*
OL Jim Schrader*
OL Frank Varrichione*
OL Pat Bisceglia
OL Jack Lee
OL Sam Palumbo
OL Dick Szymanski
OL Joe Bush
DE Joe Katchik
DE Entee Shine

Game Summaries

Oklahoma

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Notre Dame	7	7	14	0	28
Oklahoma	7	7	0	7	21

Date: September 26
Location: Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma
Game attendance: 59,500
Game weather: Sunny • 94 °F (34 °C)

Don Penza blocked and recovered a kick to set up one touchdown and recovered a fumble that led to another Notre Dame score.^[6]

Team players drafted into the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Art Hunter	T	1	3	Green Bay Packers
Johnny Lattner	RB	1	7	Pittsburgh Steelers
Neil Worden	B	1	9	Philadelphia Eagles
Jim Schrader	C	2	20	Washington Redskins
Fran Paterra	B	4	42	Chicago Bears
Menil Mavraides	G	4	45	Philadelphia Eagles
Tommy McHugh	B	6	62	Chicago Cardinals
Joe Katchik	E	10	118	Los Angeles Rams
Sam Palumbo	G	15	179	San Francisco 49ers
Don Penza	E	18	211	Pittsburgh Steelers
Entee Shine	E	27	322	Los Angeles Rams
Joe Bush	G	28	331	Pittsburgh Steelers

^[7]

Awards and Honors

References

^ "1953 - 19th Award". Heisman Trophy. Archived from the original on July 1, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
^ "Notre Dame snips Georgia Tech string, 27–14". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. October 25, 1953. Retrieved October 5, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Smith, Red (November 8, 1953). "Notre Dame, Lattner Subdue Penn, 28-20". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. 44 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "The Daily Tar Heel. (Chapel Hill, N.C.) 1946-current, November 15, 1953, Image 1". November 15, 1953. p. 1.
^ "Angry Irish punish S.M.U." The Des Moines Register. December 6, 1953. Retrieved March 20, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Fighting Irish Roar Back to 28-21 Victory." Palm Beach Post. 1953 September 27 Retrieved 7 July 2013.
^ "1953 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com.

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[1] "1953 - 19th Award". Heisman Trophy. Archived from the original on July 1, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2008.

[2] "Notre Dame snips Georgia Tech string, 27–14". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. October 25, 1953. Retrieved October 5, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[3] Smith, Red (November 8, 1953). "Notre Dame, Lattner Subdue Penn, 28-20". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. 44 – via Newspapers.com.

[4] "The Daily Tar Heel. (Chapel Hill, N.C.) 1946-current, November 15, 1953, Image 1". November 15, 1953. p. 1.

[5] "Angry Irish punish S.M.U." The Des Moines Register. December 6, 1953. Retrieved March 20, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.

[6] "Fighting Irish Roar Back to 28-21 Victory." Palm Beach Post. 1953 September 27 Retrieved 7 July 2013.

[7] "1953 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com.

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v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Venues	Brownson Hall field (1892?–1899) Cartier Field (1899–1928) Soldier Field (1929) Notre Dame Stadium (1930–present)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Emerald Isle Classic Army Boston College Michigan Michigan State Navy Northwestern Pittsburgh Purdue Stanford USC
Culture and lore	History Band of the Fighting Irish Irish Guard Notre Dame Box Notre Dame Leprechaun "Notre Dame, Our Mother" "Notre Dame Victory March" Play Like a Champion Today Subway Alumni T formation Tall Grass Game 1946 "Game of the Century" 1966 "Game of the Century" Catholics vs. Convicts 30 for 30 film 1993 "Game of the Century" Bush Push Navy ends the drought Death of Lizzy Seeberg 2020 ACC Championship Game The Spirit of Notre Dame Knute Rockne, All American Notre Dame Football on NBC Rudy
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks Four Horsemen NFL draftees Statistical leaders Team captains
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold

v t e College football national champions (poll era)
1936–1949	1936: Minnesota (AP) 1937: Pittsburgh 1938: TCU 1939: Texas A&M 1940: Minnesota 1941: Minnesota 1942: Ohio State 1943: Notre Dame 1944: Army 1945: Army (AP) / Oklahoma A&M (AFCA) 1946: Notre Dame 1947: Notre Dame 1948: Michigan 1949: Notre Dame
1950s	1950: Oklahoma (AP, Coaches) 1951: Tennessee 1952: Michigan State 1953: Maryland 1954: Ohio State (AP) / UCLA (FWAA, Coaches) 1955: Oklahoma 1956: Oklahoma 1957: Auburn (AP) / Ohio State (Coaches, FWAA) 1958: LSU (AP, Coaches) / Iowa (FWAA) 1959: Syracuse (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF)
1960s	1960: Minnesota (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ole Miss (FWAA) 1961: Alabama (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ohio State (FWAA) 1962: USC 1963: Texas 1964: Alabama (AP, Coaches) / Arkansas (FWAA) / Notre Dame (NFF) 1965: Alabama (AP, FWAA) / Michigan State (Coaches, FWAA, NFF) 1966: Notre Dame (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) / Michigan State (NFF) 1967: USC 1968: Ohio State 1969: Texas
1970s	1970: Nebraska (AP, FWAA) / Texas (NFF, Coaches) / Ohio State (NFF) 1971: Nebraska 1972: USC 1973: Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF) / Alabama (Coaches) 1974: Oklahoma (AP) / USC (FWAA, NFF, Coaches) 1975: Oklahoma 1976: Pittsburgh 1977: Notre Dame 1978: Alabama (AP, FWAA, NFF) / USC (Coaches) 1979: Alabama
1980–1991	1980: Georgia 1981: Clemson 1982: Penn State 1983: Miami (FL) 1984: BYU 1985: Oklahoma 1986: Penn State 1987: Miami (FL) 1988: Notre Dame 1989: Miami (FL) 1990: Colorado (AP, FWAA, NFF, USAT/CNN) / Georgia Tech (Coaches) 1991: Miami (FL) (AP) / Washington (Coaches, FWAA, UPI/NFF)