Bob McBride entered the ND Class of ‘44 in the Fall of 1940. He came from Logan, OH where he had been the first Logan High School football player to ever have been chosen for the All Ohio Prep Football First Team. Bob was Class President his junior and senior years at Logan High, he was Football Team Captain his senior year, he was elected Team Captain for the All-Ohio team that played the All-Florida team in the “Kumquat Bowl” in St. Petersburg, FL in December, 1939. An Honor Student at Logan High, Bob graduated eighth out of 220 students.

McBride took recruiting trips to Ohio State, Tulane, Tennessee, but when Joe Donahue sent him round trip bus tickets to make the trip to South Bend his dream came true. Coach Elmer Layden, in his Breen Phillips Hall office, offered Bob a scholarship and that was that! His first residence hall was Zahm and a few of his freshmen teammates were Creighton Miller, Angelo Bertelli, and Pat Filley. Bob and “Bert” were roommates on road trips.

Almost immediately after the 1940 season, it was announced that Elmer Layden was resigning to become the first commissioner of the NFL. At first, the word spread that Buck Shaw, a former ND athlete and head football coach at Santa Clara, would be the new coach. In mid January, however, Frank Leahy was announced as the new head football coach. McBride was one of 27 letter winners in the 1941 season on a team that went 8-0-1 (tied Army in a mud battle in Yankee Stadium).

For the 1942 season, Coach Leahy decided to switch from the old ND box formation to the “T” formation. This was, in part, due to Coach’s recognition of Angelo Bertelli as a potentially great passer. Bob was a starting guard for that team which went 7-2-2 (losing to Georgia Tech and Michigan).

The day after Bob McBride went home at the end of the 1943 spring semester, he received a notice in the mail to report to Fort Hayes in Columbus, OH. During his service in the Army, he played some football at Ft. Benning, GA with ex- collegiate ball players including Charley Trippi, Frank Sincowitz, Johnny Kagel, Walt Rourke, Bob Waterfield, Sully Harris and Cullen Rogers. McBride was captured in the Battle of the Bulge and lost over half of his weight in a little over 100 days of captivity (he weighed 104 lbs when he was repatriated). He was honorably discharged from the service on December 1, 1945.

On January 3, 1946, he received the following letter from Coach Leahy:

Dear Bob,

Your recent letter to Fr. Cavanaugh has been placed before us and we rejoice in the thought that you will soon be back on our campus. We are unusually happy about your decision to return, not just because you are an outstanding football player, but mainly because of your ability to give Notre Dame the kind of representation she deserves off the field. I can truthfully say that I have never had the privilege of coaching a finer young gentleman than your self. Therefore it is only natural that we should look forward with much pleasure to having you on our team again. Please accept our heartiest congratulations on your marvelous war record and you willingness to make the necessary sacrifices to bring victory our way. On behalf of our entire athletic department, we salute you, and want you to know that we are more than just casually proud of the excellent manner in which you carried on during our recent crisis.

Sincerely,

Frank Leahy
Director of Athletics
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana

Bob worked very hard to get back to around 180 lbs. for the ‘46 season. He played and lettered on that National hampionship team. In December of 1946, he graduated Cum Laude from Notre Dame and accepted the head football coaching job and Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago. He came back onto Coach Leahy’s staff at Notre Dame as line coach for the 1949 season and stayed there until Coach left after the ‘54 season. During those years, his duties in addition to coaching were to coordinate the recruiting program and to insure (with the help of Dr. Bill Burke) that each and every team member did his absolute best to earn his degree. In the five years that McBride was on the coaching staff, ND didn’t lose one athlete because of academic ineligibility. In 1954, Fr. Hesburgh took note of this program and, with Bill Burke at the helm, instituted the office of Dean of Freshmen Studies.

This is a sketch that was done by Ken Modak with some Notre Dame scenes. It includes images of: The Golden Dome, The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, The Library (with "Touchdown Jesus"), The Grotto, and Notre Dame Stadium. There is a banner of the 11 ND Football National Champions, along with the five coaches to win the titles: Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, and Lou Holtz. Shown are The Four Horsemen (Stuhldreher, Crowley, Miller, and Layden), and the Heisman Trophy, which ND has had seven recipients. Next to Knute Rockne there is a plaque with a quote from George Gipp. In the lower right is the University of Notre Dame seal.

This is one of Ken's favorites. He represents his father, Dan Modak, Sr., with his number 70 - when Dan played for the 1949 National Championship Irish team! Also, the artist's nephew, Brent, posed for the print. This print was produced for the Hamme's Notre Dame Bookstore.