Albersheim's 2014 Summer Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/24/2014
When one thinks of the greatest college football coaches from the early 20th century (if not the entire 20th century), two names usually come to mind: Notre Dame’s
Knute Rockne and
Glenn “Pop” Warner.
At the time of his death in March, 1931, more than 200 men who played for Rockne while he was a coach at Notre Dame were in the coaching profession. 90 of these men were coaching at the college level, and 38 were head coaches. Rockne was also part of several coaching schools, including one in which he partnered with the great Glenn “Pop” Warner. Bill Brasher, an aspiring football coach in the 1920s, attended this special school at SMU which was aptly named, “Warner Rockne Coaching School,” and was located in Dallas, TX.
This approximate 8.5” x 11” certificate was issued by Southern Methodist University, which hosted the “Warner-Rockne coaching School.” It’s signed in the lower right by Glenn S. Warner (D. 1954) as the football coach for Leland Stanford University and Knute Rockne (D. 1931) as coach of Notre Dame. This has also been signed by R.N. Blackwell the AD (at the time referred to as the Business manager of Athletics). He was also the SMU basketball coach from 1921-22. An interesting tidbit about Blackwell is that he was fired in 1931 for drinking on the job and other causes that were never publicly acknowledged. Above Blackwell’s signature is that of SMU director of Physical Education, Ray Morrison (D. 1982) who is a member of the College Football HOF. A whopping 3 College Football HOF autographs on one document!
This certificate exhibits many folds and moderate staining along the edges, predominately along the right edge. None of these mentioned faults affect the dark, near perfect signatures.
Letter of Authenticity from Richard Albersheim and full COA – James Spence.