Black Knights and Fighting Irish: A Rivalry, a Game, and America One Year After the End of World War II

For thirty-three years, the football rivalry between the US Military Academy and Notre Dame provided countless thrills to fans across the country. Yet both schools decided to end the series at the peak of its popularity, after the 1946 game that many consider to be the "Game of the Century."

Black Knights and Fighting Irish traces the history of one of the most storied rivalries in college football. However, it's also a story of a nation emerging from years of carnage and sacrifice, learning again to enjoy the simple pleasures of sports and other leisure activities.

In 1948, Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy described the rivalry: "They were . . . rivals on the football field, who died as comrades-in-arms on the field of battle." Seventy-five years later, Black Knights and Fighting Irish renews the tribute to these young men, their rivalry, and the institutions they represented.

Richard Cacioppe is a 1962 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point. Commissioned in the infantry, he served in a number of assignments after Airborne and Ranger training, including two tours of duty in Vietnam, and held leadership positions ranging from platoon leader to battalion commander during his twenty-six-year active duty and National Guard military career. He is the author of two books and several articles published in Army magazine. He was president and CEO of several small and mid-sized companies in northern Indiana where he also taught business courses at Indiana University at South Bend.He and his wife have three daughters, nine grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. He lives with his wife and Yorkie in Naples, Florida.