On this Date in Minnesota History: August 14

August 14, 1928 – Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne was named general supervisor of football at St. Thomas College, St. Paul, Minn., on this date by Very Rev. Matthew Schumacher, C. S. C., new president of the institution.
Under the new plan outlined by Father Schumacher, Mr. Rockne would have general supervisory authority over football activities at the college with Father Joseph Gibbs as athletic director. This position requires frequent visits by Coach Rockne to the St. Paul institution, both during the training period and playing season.

This was the first step taken by Father Schumacher to bring St. Thomas College athletics to the forefront and to make the institution one of the outstanding athletic centers in the northwest.¹

”Rockne was given the honorary title as St. Thomas’ “Supervisor of Athletics,” which he held until his death in 1931. On Rockne’s three-day trip to campus in 1928, he attended football practices and spoke to a packed room of journalists, students and faculty.”<sup>2


1</sup>The Hibbing (Minn.) Daily Tribune; “Knute Rockne to Supervise Football at St. Thomas College, Minn., This Year”; August 14, 1928; p. 7

²http://www.stthomas.edu/news/2003/01/10/pride-passion-and-personalities/

Knute Rockne
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/06/26/lessons-in-manliness-from-knute-rockne/