Bill Hillgrove remembers the man's name only as Soupie.
An usher at Pitt Stadium, Soupie was a Pitt fan and an Irishman, and his friends who rooted for Notre Dame “kept giving him the business,” Hillgrove said, as the Irish's winning streak against Pitt reached 11 games through 1974.
But Nov. 15, 1975, was one of the proudest days of Soupie's life. That was the day Tony Dorsett ran for a school-record 303 yards in Pitt's 34-20 victory against Notre Dame at Pitt Stadium.
“Soupie walked down Sutherland Drive with his head held high,” said Hillgrove, the longtime radio voice for Pitt and the Steelers.
Dorsett was pleased, too.
“I like to think I upped my game every year,” Dorsett said Wednesday from his Dallas home. “But I was geeked up every time I played Notre Dame.” Dorsett, 61, plans to be at Heinz Field on Saturday for the 70th game between Pitt and Notre Dame. Former Pitt coach Johnny Majors, 80, had a similar idea, planning to leave his Knoxville, Tenn., home Wednesday bound for Pittsburgh. Then, as now, Pitt had a chance to knock Notre Dame from major bowl consideration.
Notre Dame, which had won a national championship two years prior to 1975 and won another two years later, was left out of the bowl picture after losing to Pitt. Saturday, a Pitt victory would all but end Notre Dame's hopes to reach the four-team College Football Playoff.
Pitt has something to prove after its four-game winning streak ended last week. Forty years ago, Dorsett also had a lot to prove.
Notre Dame was among the schools recruiting Dorsett, but he lost interest when word reached him that a Notre Dame assistant told coach Ara Parseghian “that skinny, little kid from Aliquippa” never would make it as a major college running back.
Not only did Dorsett make it, but he won a Heisman Trophy, national championship, Super Bowl and was inducted into the college and Pro Football halls of fame.
“I was playing with a chip on my shoulder most of my career,” he said. Dorsett made a prophet of former Pitt publicist Beano Cook, who famously said, “You either have to play for Notre Dame or beat Notre Dame to win the Heisman.”
Even in defeat, Dorsett's games against Notre Dame were legendary. As a freshman, he ran for 209 yards in a 31-10 loss to the Irish, less than two months before they claimed the national championship.
“You do know who got the most yards in a career against a common opponent, right?” Dorsett once asked a reporter. “You know that would be Tony D. You know who that team is? Notre Dame. Check it out.”
It's true, and the record stands to this day. Dorsett's 754 career yards against Notre Dame constitute an NCAA record for a player against a four-year opponent.
Majors recognized Dorsett's greatness almost from the moment he stepped off an airplane in Pittsburgh at 3 a.m. on a December morning in 1972. The new Pitt coach immediately asked recruiting coordinator Foge Fazio to name the area's best player.
Told the player was Hopewell's Dorsett, Majors asked Fazio to set up a meeting. After Majors' introductory news conference, he soon was seated in the living room of Hopewell coach Butch Ross, sipping homemade wine and hot tea, munching on cookies and answering questions from Dorsett's mother, Myrtle.
“His mother was very smart and cagey,” Majors said. “She listened to everything we said.”
Majors said he and assistant coach Jackie Sherrill made so many trips to Hopewell that he was asked to speak in front of the student body. “Every time I came in the house, there was somebody parked in my driveway,” Dorsett said.
Former Pitt center John Pelusi, a member of the Pitt Board of Trustees, helped pave the way for many of Dorsett's yards against Notre Dame, and months later he got the chance to throw it back at Irish great Paul Hornung.
A year after Dorsett ran for 303 yards, Hornung told a crowd at a pep rally the night before the game at Notre Dame Stadium that he would jump out of the press box if Dorsett gained 100 yards.
Dorsett reached 181 by the fourth quarter of a 31-10 Pitt victory when Majors pulled him from the game.
“They tried to grow the grass long, but it didn't work,” Dorsett said.
Months later, Pelusi ran into Hornung and asked him how he was able to survive the fall. “He just walked away,” Pelusi said.
Hillgrove, who has been calling Pitt games on the radio for nearly five decades, said Dorsett's 303-yard effort was one of the most amazing feats he has witnessed.
“You could see the frustration on the part of those (Notre Dame) guys trying to make tackles,” Hillgrove said. “They couldn't tackle him. He had the tearaway shirt, and that helped a little bit. But you could see he was a man possessed.”
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
An usher at Pitt Stadium, Soupie was a Pitt fan and an Irishman, and his friends who rooted for Notre Dame “kept giving him the business,” Hillgrove said, as the Irish's winning streak against Pitt reached 11 games through 1974.
But Nov. 15, 1975, was one of the proudest days of Soupie's life. That was the day Tony Dorsett ran for a school-record 303 yards in Pitt's 34-20 victory against Notre Dame at Pitt Stadium.
“Soupie walked down Sutherland Drive with his head held high,” said Hillgrove, the longtime radio voice for Pitt and the Steelers.
Dorsett was pleased, too.
“I like to think I upped my game every year,” Dorsett said Wednesday from his Dallas home. “But I was geeked up every time I played Notre Dame.” Dorsett, 61, plans to be at Heinz Field on Saturday for the 70th game between Pitt and Notre Dame. Former Pitt coach Johnny Majors, 80, had a similar idea, planning to leave his Knoxville, Tenn., home Wednesday bound for Pittsburgh. Then, as now, Pitt had a chance to knock Notre Dame from major bowl consideration.
Notre Dame, which had won a national championship two years prior to 1975 and won another two years later, was left out of the bowl picture after losing to Pitt. Saturday, a Pitt victory would all but end Notre Dame's hopes to reach the four-team College Football Playoff.
Pitt has something to prove after its four-game winning streak ended last week. Forty years ago, Dorsett also had a lot to prove.
Notre Dame was among the schools recruiting Dorsett, but he lost interest when word reached him that a Notre Dame assistant told coach Ara Parseghian “that skinny, little kid from Aliquippa” never would make it as a major college running back.
Not only did Dorsett make it, but he won a Heisman Trophy, national championship, Super Bowl and was inducted into the college and Pro Football halls of fame.
“I was playing with a chip on my shoulder most of my career,” he said. Dorsett made a prophet of former Pitt publicist Beano Cook, who famously said, “You either have to play for Notre Dame or beat Notre Dame to win the Heisman.”
Even in defeat, Dorsett's games against Notre Dame were legendary. As a freshman, he ran for 209 yards in a 31-10 loss to the Irish, less than two months before they claimed the national championship.
“You do know who got the most yards in a career against a common opponent, right?” Dorsett once asked a reporter. “You know that would be Tony D. You know who that team is? Notre Dame. Check it out.”
It's true, and the record stands to this day. Dorsett's 754 career yards against Notre Dame constitute an NCAA record for a player against a four-year opponent.
Majors recognized Dorsett's greatness almost from the moment he stepped off an airplane in Pittsburgh at 3 a.m. on a December morning in 1972. The new Pitt coach immediately asked recruiting coordinator Foge Fazio to name the area's best player.
Told the player was Hopewell's Dorsett, Majors asked Fazio to set up a meeting. After Majors' introductory news conference, he soon was seated in the living room of Hopewell coach Butch Ross, sipping homemade wine and hot tea, munching on cookies and answering questions from Dorsett's mother, Myrtle.
“His mother was very smart and cagey,” Majors said. “She listened to everything we said.”
Majors said he and assistant coach Jackie Sherrill made so many trips to Hopewell that he was asked to speak in front of the student body. “Every time I came in the house, there was somebody parked in my driveway,” Dorsett said.
Former Pitt center John Pelusi, a member of the Pitt Board of Trustees, helped pave the way for many of Dorsett's yards against Notre Dame, and months later he got the chance to throw it back at Irish great Paul Hornung.
A year after Dorsett ran for 303 yards, Hornung told a crowd at a pep rally the night before the game at Notre Dame Stadium that he would jump out of the press box if Dorsett gained 100 yards.
Dorsett reached 181 by the fourth quarter of a 31-10 Pitt victory when Majors pulled him from the game.
“They tried to grow the grass long, but it didn't work,” Dorsett said.
Months later, Pelusi ran into Hornung and asked him how he was able to survive the fall. “He just walked away,” Pelusi said.
Hillgrove, who has been calling Pitt games on the radio for nearly five decades, said Dorsett's 303-yard effort was one of the most amazing feats he has witnessed.
“You could see the frustration on the part of those (Notre Dame) guys trying to make tackles,” Hillgrove said. “They couldn't tackle him. He had the tearaway shirt, and that helped a little bit. But you could see he was a man possessed.”
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
