Notre Dame football: Top 5 quarterbacks in school history
Angelo Bertelli is not one of those guys who isn’t on the top of most people’s lists of “All-time great Notre Dame quarterbacks.” He should be though. Nicknamed “The Springfield Rifle,” because he grew up near the Springfield Armory, Bertelli is the second greatest quarterback in the program’s history.
Among his list of accomplishments; Bertelli was a two time All-American, won a National Championship, was Sportsnews Player of the Year, AP Player of the Year, and he won the Heisman Trophy. With that list of accomplishments, it’s shocking he isn’t more revered by Notre Dame lore.
He suffers from the same issue as his coach. Frank Leahy lives in the shadow of Knute Rockne. He didn’t make Notre Dame a household name. He brought the program back to life, but it’s not like he was the first one to coach Notre Dame to multiple National Championships. At the same time that Leahy didn’t coach long enough ago to be the program builder, he was too long ago for those alive today to remember his playing days.
Leahy would describe Bertelli as the best passing, but worst rushing quarterback that he’d ever known. However, Bertelli’s lack of rushing ability didn’t stop him from bringing his coach’s T-Formation to fruition. It was out of this formation he threw four touchdown passes in a single game against Stanford.
The T-Formation was, traditionally, a running formation. Essentially, the fullback and two running backs lined up side by side, behind the quarterback. This made it easy to give to any of the backs, make any of them a blocker, and run options from this formation.
Because Bertelli wasn’t worth much as a runner, his option became throwing the ball downfield to the ends. He was deadly doing this, and it’s what made his career in South Bend so special.
Bertelli started for Notre Dame from 1941-1943. During that 1943 season, Bertelli completed 69.4% of his passes and threw 10 touchdowns. Over, the course of his career at Notre Dame he threw for over 1,500 yards. This helped him to become known as the greatest passer Notre Dame had ever had.
Immediately following his time at Notre Dame, quarterback Angelo Bertelli would serve in World War II. He was a marine corps officer at Iwo Jima and Guam. The College Football Hall of Famer was captain of the Marine Corps football team.