Notre Dame hero Johnny Lujack died at age 98

When famed Notre Dame football player Johnny Lujack died in 2023, at age 98, his obituary writers opened up a flood of memories from the university’s “golden years” – the middle 1940s – that were influenced by World War II.

Lujack, who won college football’s coveted Heisman Trophy in 1947, was the starting quarterback in 23 games for Notre Dame. His record was 21-1-1. Lujack piloted the Fighting Irish to three national championships, as determined by the votes of Associated Press sportswriters.

Writing for the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, Tyler James selected Lujack (32), a two-time unanimous All-American, as Notre Dame’s top quarterback of all time. Finishing 2nd through 10th were: Brady Quinn, Angelo Bertelli, Joe Theismann, Tom Clements, Tony Rice, Rick Mirer, Joe Montana, Jimmy Clausen and Bob Williams. Among the Irish quarterbacks who didn’t make the cut were John Huarte and Paul Hornung.

 

What made Lujack’s performance unique was the fact that he missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons due to military service with the Navy. He was assigned to a U.S. ship that patrolled the English Channel is search of German U-boats.

Interestingly, Notre Dame’s head coach Frank Leahy also took a leave of absence from the university at the same time to become an officer in the Navy. Leahy was deployed to the Pacific and given responsibility for “organizing recreational activities” for the Sailors.

After the war, Lujack and Leahy were reunited at Notre Dame Stadium, and the coach introduced a boatload of recruits (all Navy veterans) who he’d collected while performing his patriotic duties for Uncle Sam.

Lujack played all the major sports at Notre Dame. He is the only person to earn four varsity letters as a freshman – in football, basketball, baseball and track and field.

Lujack told the story: “In my first baseball game, I had two singles and a triple in four at-bats, and between innings I ran over to the track to do the high jump and javelin. All I did was take my sliding pads off. But it was kind of tough to do the high jump because we had those baggy baseball trousers.”

After graduation in 1947, Lujack was the fourth overall pick in the National Football League draft, selected by the Chicago Bears. Lujack had four outstanding seasons playing for coach George Halas before suffering a serious shoulder injury that sidetracked his playing career. 

When Lujack, left, joined the Chicago Bears in 1948, he alternated at quarterback with Sid Luckman, center, and Lujack’s fellow rookie Bobby Layne, both future Pro Football Hall of Famers. 

At age 26, Lujack retired and accepted an assistant coaching position on Leahy’s staff at Notre Dame.

Lujack stayed two years but opted to move on when Leahy retired after the 1953 season. Lujack formed a business partnership with his father-in-law Frank Schierbrock in Davenport, Iowa. They bought the local car dealership franchise and opened Lujack-Schierbrock Chevrolet in 1954.

(Lujack had met Patricia Schierbrock in 1946 and their first date consisted of a sports “doubleheader” – attending a basketball game and hockey game and eating hotdogs. The couple was married in 1948.)

 

Don Doxsie, former sports columnist with the Quad-City Times in Davenport, said that Frank Schierbrock had been in the car business since 1918, and “he knew his sense of the business and his son-in-law’s name recognition could be a lucrative combination.” They built the biggest Chevrolet dealership between Chicago and Des Moines.

 

“Lujack continued to be involved in football through those years,” Doxsie wrote. “He served as Chris Schenkel’s color commentator on New York Giants television broadcasts until 1962, when Ford became the primary sponsor of the telecasts. When Ford discovered that Lujack was a Chevy dealer, he was replaced by Pat Summerall.”