By Monty Siekerman
ONU faces Notre Dame in football Friday night under the lights, but it isn't what it seems.
The football contest features robots. The "lights" are inside King-Horn, a gymnasium, not turf.
And, ONU is out for revenge...no one today can recall the time Notre Dame skunked ONU 87 to naught, with a real pigskin...that was 102 years ago...in 1913.
Now there is a story behind the football drubbing that ONU took at the hands of the Irish more than a century ago.
Local history maintains that the forward pass in football was first used against ONU in that long-ago game. A check of football history shows that is not the case; the pass had been tried before.
No matter which history you read, the fact remains that ONU was totally overpowered by the new play...as were other teams. In the first three games that season ND won with a total of 169 points, opponents a measly 7.
The story goes that two ND players worked together as lifeguards at Cedar Point (yes, the amusement park is that old). One was a quarterback, the other left end. They perfected the forward pass on the beach in their spare time.
Up until then, the forward pass had been considered a gimmick, but as the Irish's lopsided wins proved, the forward pass became a viable offensive option.
And that season put Notre Dame football on the map for decades to come. The coach? Knute Rockne, of course.
So, Friday night ONU students can recoup some football reputation in King-Horn. The event is free and open to the public. (Will there be cheerleaders? How do you find experienced refs for a matchup such as this?)
Robot football between the Ohio and Indiana schools has become an annual competition.
The Polar Bears won 29-7 last year.
And, an Ada student is one of the members of the local team: Paul Sorensen, a senior computer engineering major.
Go, watch, enjoy...root for the Polar Bears.
