“The Rock” was built in memory of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach from 1918 to 1931 and, by percentage, the winningest coach in college football history. This recreational facility for students, faculty, and staff opened in 1937. It contains a swimming pool, weight rooms, and courts for handball, basketball, squash, and racquetball.
Knute Rockne's biography at the College Football Hall of Fame calls him "without question, American football's most-renowned coach." Indeed, he needs no presentation. Rockne helped to popularize the forward pass and made the Notre Dame Fighting Irish a major factor in college football.
To honor him, the University named this gym after him. Opened in 1937, "The Rock" has been the main center of indoor sports at the University for many years, until the recent additions of Rolfs Sports Recreation Center and Rolfs Aquatic Center nearby the Edmund P. Joyce Center.
One fixture of popular attention at the Rockne Memorial is a bronze bust of the coach around which a tradition has arisen: visitors have been known to line up to touch Knute’s nose for good luck.
The Rockne Memorial currently hosts various fitness courses, as well as serving as a location where students can go to exercise, swim, and play sports, such as basketball and racquetball.
Knute Rockne (1888, Norway—1931, Kansas)
One of the prominent figures of Notre Dame's history, his name is known to every Irish student or fan.
The namesake of the gym's weight room, Father Bernard Lange is one of the lesser known legends of Notre Dame. The following excerpt is taken from the 1987 Notre Dame Magazine:
"The legendary 'strongman-priest,' was a contemporary and friend of Knute Rockne. Like Rockne he had a galvanizing effect on those students fortunate enough to come under his tutelage [..] His reputation as a non-conformist and superman dates to his years in Notre Dame Preparatory School. It was probably born the day he climbed to the top of the Golden Dome, wrapped his right arm around Our Lady, and waved to his awestruck classmates on the ground far below. The police were summoned, and he led them on a frantic chase through St. Ed’s Hall and down to St. Mary’s Lake, where he made good his escape by swimming under the ice to the far shore, where he broke from the lake headfirst and disappeared into the woods."
The legacy of Knute Rockne can be seen in the building's statues and reliefs.
Students playing basketball at Rockne Memorial
Beautiful Gothic Interiors