ON DECEMBER 7, 1940, DURING THE SEASON FINALE AT SOUTHERN California, Notre Dame coach Elmer Layden charged onto the field to protest what he felt was a rotten call. But Layden didn’t stop there. After blistering the refs, he screamed at USC coach Howard Jones. A normally genial man, Layden had finally submitted to the abnormal pressure of coaching Notre Dame football. This pressure had increased for nine straight years—ever since March 31, 1931, the stunning day Knute Rockne died in an airplane crash
