In the fall of 1964, Notre Dame football was ranked No. 1 and undefeated heading into their game against USC. It was coach Ara Parseghian’s first season and the game was away at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum over Thanksgiving weekend. Notre Dame lost in the final minutes of the game when Rod Sherman of USC scored a touchdown in a controversial play.
Reflecting on the controversy, Joseph Stein ’69, said, “Talk about disappointing, heartbreak, everybody thought their game was robbed – they probably were.”
Lou Bartoshesky ’66 said, “[Parseghian was] one notch below God … he came along at a time when football was not doing well.”
Earl Guertin ’67 noted the game was televised in a time that not every game was.
“I used to listen to Notre Dame games on the radio, but, by that time, it was such an important game that it was televised,” Guertin said.
As a sports editor for The Voice, The Observer’s predecessor, Robert Campbell ’66 recalled the ways media was reported in the 60s. He described watching home games from the box where the reporters from the bigger news outlets would have their typewriters with their paper notes that would be typed up later.
The next year, the Notre Dame student body was insistent on remembering the happenings from 329 days prior, naming the week prior to the 1965 game against USC “Remember Week.”
In the “upcoming distractions” section of the October 22, 1965 Scholastic magazine, “REMEMBER” was scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Saturday Oct. 23, the start time of the 1965 game between Notre Dame and USC.
Stein described the tense nature of the week leading up to the 1965 game, because the pressure to beat USCwas on.
“The whole week there were pep rallies every night. Everything culminated in that in the ‘Remember’ game,” said Stein.
Campbell noted the high energy of the old Field House during pep rallies. He explained that they would try and pack the whole student body of about 8,000 students into Field House, noting that he is not sure if that would even be possible. The players and coach were protected from the crowds by being out on a balcony.
“It was wild and loud because the building was long. It had brick walls and any sounds in there were deafening,” Campbell said.
Stein recalled the power of the student body’s chant on game day.
“Before the game, we were sitting in the stands, even for the warm ups. Just chanting, ‘remember,’ ‘remember.’ I have never heard a unison chant since then. It was repeated for such a long time,” Stein said.
The Oct. 25, 1965 edition of the South Bend Tribune reported, “The thump of the school band’s bass drum and the word, ‘Remember’ reverberated across the stadium, amplified by the [new] loudspeakers.”
The Voicereported that students hung a sign reading “Kill Cal” from the dome at about 6:15 a.m. on game day, which was not removed by the University until about 10 a.m.
Stein recalled large bedsheet signs hanging on the sides of Carroll Hall and Zahm Hall.
“They … stitched bed sheets together. They had sheets with their paint signs on them that were almost as big as the side of the dorm,” Stein said.
On Oct. 25, 1965, the South Bend Tribune reported, “Half-time was a show in and of itself. Hundreds of students streamed onto the field displaying homemade signs, plain and fancy, which warned the USC Trojans of the Irish wrath and revenge and urged Notre Dame to ‘Remember’ last year’s game that the Irish lost.”
In the end, the Irish heeded the fans’ advice and thumped USC 28-7.