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WAKE UP THE ECHOS: Dove ready to dress for success after oversight is righted

Editor's Note: Notre Dame's many contributions to the College Football Hall of Fame includes 38 players, five head coaches and several players who became coaches at other schools. Of the 38, there are 23 deceased. A series of stories on the 15 living Irish Hall-of-Famers continues with Bob Dove.

"If they had asked me to wear a tuxedo, I'd have complied," said the obviously happy Bob Dove, when he appeared in a coat and a tie at a ceremony in stifling heat at Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 2.

The "tuxedo" bit will come next December in New York City, where Dove will be formally inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as the newest (and also oldest) Notre Dame member. Then he will be enshrined in the South Bend Hall the next summer.

"God willing, I'll make them all," said the 79-year-old Dove, while attending N.D.'s season-opening victory over Texas A&M.

Dove was a consensus All-American in 1941 and again in 1942 for coach Frank Leahy's first two teams at Notre Dame. But Hall-of-Fame voters, in a rush to name players from the great undefeated Leahy teams (1946-49), managed to overlook Dove.

When the window of opportunity closed (50 years since he had last played), there seemed little chance that he would be named. Bob's son and a few of us other friends did a little campaigning. And the National Football Foundation decided to create an oversight committee to examine the credentials of players who might have been overlooked.

That committee unanimously decided that Dove was a viable exception, and he was named to this year's class. It's something that makes the "tough man" from Youngstown, Ohio, happy. And last week, almost to a man, the Leahy Lads (former players for coach Leahy), saluted one of their own.

"Bob Dove was the toughest, best player we had," admired teammate Creighton Miller, the star halfback who made it years earlier. "Offense or defense, we could really count on Bob."'

They started counting on Bob for the Duffy Midgets, playing youth football in the Idora Park in Youngstown. Dove moved on to Princeton Junior High and then for coach Busty Ashbaugh at Youngstown South High. Ashbaugh's son, Russell, was the quarterback and later joined Dove at Notre Dame.

Other schools and coaches tried to recruit Dove, among them Wally Butts of Georgia, who also lured Frankie Sinkwich. Sinkwich was also from Youngstown.

Dove and Sinkwich visited Ohio State together, but Frankie headed to Georgia and Bob to Notre Dame with a little urging from Bennie Barrett, a former Elmer Layden player and assistant at Duquesne.

"I went to Notre Dame with Barrett on a visit, only Layden wasn't there," Dove recalled. "He was coaching the All-Stars in Chicago, so an assistant coach showed me around.

Dove came to the Irish in the fall of 1939, turning down Ohio State, Pitt, Georgia and others.

One thing that helped seal Dove's interest was the hall where he stayed, the new Breen-Phillips dormitory on the east side of campus. When he arrived on campus in the fall, he was sent to "the golden dome" (Administration Building) and Bronson and Carroll halls with accommodations separated by a pipe network and sheets.

"I asked Brother Justin, 'what ever happened to Breen-Phillips Hall with the shower in the room?' "

It turns out that they had bunked Dove in the rector's quarters. And then Dove discovered that he also had a job, racking dishes in the dining hall and waiting on tables. That paid for the athletes' room and board.

When Dove reported to the football field, he was on the eighth or ninth freshman team. (There were six varsity units, three B team groups and 11 freshman teams, some 220 players). Dove worked with the freshman group. Another end was George Murphy of South Bend, eventually the 1942 captain who was killed on Iwo Jima.

"I was the left end, and he was the right end, and we gradually worked our way up and made the varsity as sophomores," said Dove.

After one year under Layden, the new coach was Frank Leahy, but he continued the box formation used by Rockne years before. Leahy's first team was undefeated (tied 0-0 by Army), but he switched to the T-formation the next year.

Dove was an All-American in both Leahy years, playing guard at times and then four days before the Wisconsin opener, back to end. On one team, Dove was listed as an All-American guard.

Then it was off to the Marines, some service football, and later a pro contract with the Chicago Rockets, where he was a player-coach for awhile. He moved to the NFL Cardinals and played five seasons with Charley Trippi, Elmer Angsman and Co. He later played in the championship years with the Detroit Lions.

When Dove's playing days were over, he coached at the University of Detroit and scouted for the Lions. He later became head coach of the Lions before he joined teammate Buster Ramsey with the new AFL Buffalo Bills and then the Cleveland Browns.

Eventually he gave up pro football to return to Youngstown State, where he stayed 19 seasons and was named "coach emeritus."

Dove has fond memories of his days at Notre Dame and of a long career in football from the days of the Duffy Midgets to the pros and then for almost a lifetime in coaching.

It may have taken a long time for Hall-of-Fame laurels, but he was one of the Notre Dame greats.