I wasn't even an ND fan at this point.
I wrangled a sideline photographer's pass to Blue-Gold in 1974 (also 73). In the 74 Blue-Gold, Weber did something Ara did not like. He yelled, "God damn you Robin Weber." I was amused that one of the heroes of the NC game would get yelled at like that. But -- just another day of football.
I was in 6th grade. My school was a WPIAL powerhouse in the 1960s and, traditionally, scheduled a patsy opening week. So they got this little catholic school scheduled for a beating until the little QB came in and kept them off balance with clever ball handling and perfect execution.
The next year, I was fortunate enough to travel to Canevin and watch this amazing player from the sideline.
Who knew I'd see him a few years later win a NC at ND.
Joe Montana turned down NCSU and Tom Clements UNC Chapel Hill.
What if Kelly were coach back then?
...My only "trivia" factoid about him, picked up back when I was a student, is that Clements and Dwight Clay played on the same team in the Dapper Dan tournament in PA, and then both went to ND--one for football, the other for basketball.
Of course, each is remembered for a fateful and fortunate heave of the ball, 19 days apart (12/31/73 and 1/19/74).
15 yard line. I believe it was a first down and the Irish ran a play action pass where the QB (Clements) faked two hand offs. One to a back running sweep action and a 2nd to a wing back running an inside counter in the opposite direction.
Clements' masterful execution fooled virtually everyone in the stadium as he nonchalantly took 2-3 steps back before lofting a long pass down field which was complete for a huge gain.
Unfortunately the refs were fooled as well and had blown the whistle when the wing back was tackled. After much discussion they called the play back due to an "inadvertent whistle".
It was a perfectly executed play.
resemblance to the current one. Sadly, our AD, who was a student then, doesn’t care in the least.
I remember hearing about Clements that Summer('71) before he got to ND from my Little League Baseball coach.
My coach had just moved to Ohio from Pittsburgh and was lamenting that his Pitt Panthers had just missed out on Clements. He kept raving about how great Clements would be at ND. He was right.
I still think that Clement's pass to Robin Weber vs Alabama is the greatest single play in ND history, considering what was at stake and the circumstances.
not to have his name on the back of his jersey for the 73 sugar bowl
I was in that end zone that night. What a play. I thought Casper caught the ball and didn't find out until later when Weber walked into Pat O'brien's and someone pointed it out. I bought Clements a hurricane in one of those souvenir glasses. I'm sure it's one of his prized possessions.
even more exhilarating than the specter of Clements passing downfield on 3rd and 8 from the end zone. Everyone watching that game whether either an Alabama or ND fan felt that if we didn't get a first down at that late point in the game, the game would be over with Alabama scoring on a short field after a punt to win. Alabama had big time momentum late in the game, but it didn't matter as we had the coolest customer on the field on our side when we needed him most.
One question for you. Did you write off the drink you bought Clements?
he waited til Clements finished and then stole the glass.
That could be the reason he spent that night in jail or it could have been the puking in the middle of Bourbon Street incident.
bet Denver Jim never fumbled that glass while tossing his groceries.
The poster above got me thinking of this after i read your post. I was siting in the end zone right behind Clements and saw him hide the ball on his hip as he dropped back realizing that he was actually going to throw the ball.
at the HS and college level to make for a better life.
"There were some things that did not produce chuckles. Media people would not let up on the five black players who had been reinstated after a mass suspension for violating dormitory visiting rules last summer. An ABC reporter tried to interview the five for national television before the Boston College game and Valdiserri, on Devine's behalf, went through the roof.
Then there was Fullback Art Best, whose scholarship was terminated after an alleged marijuana bust. Safety-man Tim Simon, while fencing with bamboo sticks, had one break off in his eye. Tight End Robin Weber had to quit football because of a chronic nerve injury. On the first week of spring practice, Quarterback-elect Frank Allocco separated his shoulder so badly he is still throwing flutter balls.
Enter Richard C. (Rick) Slager of Columbus, Ohio, the new (but ever-so-slightly-used) and remarkably different Notre Dame quarterback, successor in the line that brought you Lujack, Hornung, Hanratty, Theismann and Clements. By Beano Cook's scale of weights and measures, his (Slager's) would be the fourth toughest job in the world. Here is Slager and two of his buddies from the offense, Center Steve Quehl and Halfback Mark McLane, having pepperoni pizza at Nicola's Restaurant in South Bend. Except for guys like Quehl and McLane, hardly anybody knows Slager yet—it always seems to work that way, Cook says, because nobody ever believes the current hero-quarterback will ever be replaced.
Slager is a senior. He has a square chin under an uninflated blond head, and though he is listed as 5'11" he appears shorter."
"That's because he's chunky," says McLane.
"Fat," says Quehl.
Slager is a couple of things most big-time college quarterbacks are not. He is a pre-med student, he doesn't want to play pro football, and one of the reasons he came to Notre Dame in the first place was because he wanted the chance to try tennis. He has played more tennis for Notre Dame (as No. 1 in varsity singles) than he has football (18 minutes total before this season). No other starting quarterback in Notre Dame history can make that statement."