John Huarte

Through the years, Notre Dame has had four quarterbacks win the most coveted individual award in college football, the Heisman Trophy. The conventional wisdom always has been that quarterbacks at N.D. have an advantage when it comes to consideration for the Heisman; remember the adulation heaped upon Ron Powlus after his four-touchdown debut against Northwestern in 1994? Despite what conventions might dictate, however, it has been 42 years since an Irish signal-caller last won the most coveted individual award in college football. This week, we look at the most recent Irish QB to win the Heisman, John Huarte.

Go Irish! Beat Jackets!
Mike

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Notre Dame fans experience a curious consciousness when it comes to their beloved football program. They revel in the landmark victories, but for a program that has experienced so much success, oftentimes the heartbreaking losses stand out more. Southern Cal's come-from-behind 16-14 victory in 1931 at Notre Dame Stadium left fans scratching their heads for decades. For fans in more recent times, the 41-39 loss to Boston College in 1993 still touches a nerve. For an earlier generation of fans, the standout heartbreaker was the 20-17 loss in final game of the 1964 season, versus Southern Cal. In that game, the hopes and dreams of an improbable turnaround season were dashed, as the Irish finished with a 9-1-0 record in Ara Parseghian's first season at the helm in South Bend. Despite that national championship-denying loss, it was one of the most memorable seasons in school history, aided in large part by the season-long throwing clinic put on by Irish senior QB John Huarte.

Of all the Heisman Trophy winners to have come through Notre Dame, Huarte is perhaps the most overlooked and, certainly, the most improbable of the seven. A native of Anaheim, California, where he played for Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Huarte was recruited to Notre Dame by Joe Kuharich. Given Kuharich's nightmarish 17-23 four-year tenure as head coach for the Irish, it is not surprising that Huarte's skills went overlooked by the coach. As a sophomore in 1962, Huarte played all of five minutes for an Irish squad that went 5-5. In 1963, under interim head coach Hugh Devore, Huarte played 45 minutes as a junior, still buried on the QB depth chart.

In entered Ara Parseghian, whose long-acknowledged greatest ability as a coach was to recognize talent and put it in the correct place on the roster. Allegedly, when Parseghian arrived at Notre Dame with his top assistant Tom Pagna, he was startled and pleasantly surprised at how much talent he had inherited from a team that had gone 2-7 the previous season. A player who caught his eye immediately was Huarte, despite the fact that the QB had thrown only 50 passes in his varsity career. Huarte had good quarterback sense and was able to integrate Parseghian's complex system of hand signals that the coach employed from the sidelines. Huarte sustained a shoulder injury during spring practices in 1964, but Parseghian gave him a vote of confidence as he headed home to California for the summer.

In a scene reminiscent of Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais on the beaches of Sandusky, Ohio before the 1913 season, Huarte and his favorite target, Jack Snow, worked on receiving patterns on the beaches of southern California during the summer. Their hard work paid off; that fall, Huarte and Snow took the college football world by storm. Notre Dame dashed to an improbable 9-0 start, following their disastrous finish the previous year. Then came the Southern Cal game, which the #1-ranked Irish led 17-0 at one point. In a scene that would be repeated often during the Parseghian Era at Notre Dame, Southern Cal snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with less than ninety seconds to play.

Understandably, the Irish were devastated by the loss. Had they held on for another few seconds, they would have had the national championship. Despite the blemish on an otherwise perfect record, it remained a memorable season about which fans still talk. Huarte set twelve school passing records during the season, including marks for passing yardage (2,062), touchdown passes (16), and pass completions (114 on 205 attempts). He ranked third in total offense nationally while leading the Irish to a #3 finish in the final rankings. These numbers were all the more impressive considering that Huarte had never started before his senior season. Following the season, Huarte garnered All-America honors and received the Heisman Trophy, beating out, among others, Illinois' Dick Butkus. He became Notre Dame's sixth winner of the award in its 31-year existence.

There is an interesting historical footnote to Huarte's improbable senior campaign. A few days following the Heisman ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York, Notre Dame held its annual football banquet. During that banquet, Parseghain conferred monograms upon a number of players for the first time. Among those first-time winners of a monogram was Huarte. The Californian actually won the Heisman Trophy before winning a varsity monogram for Notre Dame. This fact remains as one of Parseghian's favorite anecdotes from his time at Notre Dame.


After his playing days at Notre Dame, Huarte went on to the professional ranks. Drafted in the sixth round by the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL draft, Huarte opted to sign with the New York Jets of the upstart American Football League. The Jets drafted him in the second round and signed him to a $200,000 contract. He entered the league with another Jets rookie QB, Joe Namath. His career in the AFL, and the later the NFL, was largely undistinguished. He played until the mid-1970s, never really experiencing the same success he enjoyed at Notre Dame. He now is the president and owner of a chain of fourteen tile and marble distribution stores in the west.

Few athletes have experienced such a meteoric rise to stardom as John Huarte. Forty-two years after winning his Heisman Trophy (and Notre Dame monogram), Huarte's accomplishments are no less amazing now than they were then. Although he is often overlooked when younger fans reel off the names of Notre Dame legends, Huarte's journey will long stand as one of the most amazing stories in the history of Notre Dame football.

Originally published August 23, 2006
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2006