USD Football 1995

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ... ,

- _, BY LARRY BORTSTEIN efore he became a big star at Notre Dame, Jack Snow had to get smaller. Taking over as head coach of the Irish in 1964, Ara Parseghi- an thought Snow, a senior who was bidding for playing time at flanker, needed to lose weight.

ball and baseball (cen- ter field). H uarte prepped at Mater Dei High in nearby Ana- heim, Calif., and he and Snow were team- mates in several all- star games. Neither was heavily recruited out of high school. "But that was OK," Snow says. "Notre Dame wanted us, and for any Catholic kid

"He told me at spring practice he thought I was too heavy," Snow recalls. "I weighed 227, so I cut down to 215 ." The advice paid off. In the spring prac- tice game against the old-timers, Snow caught five passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. And he was just getting started. Still one of the biggest wide receivers of his time, the scaled-down Snow went on to team with senior quarterback John Huarte-a fellow southern Californian and longtime buddy-to form one of the most dazzling pass-catch combinations of any season in Notre Dame history. Their heroics helped the Irish improve from a 2-7 mark underJoe Kuharich in 1963 to a 9-1 mark and No. 3 national ranking in Parseghian's first season on the South Bend sidelines. Snow, who had played only 133 minutes in 1963 and had caught six passes, set school single-season records in 1964 with 60 catches for 1,114 yards and nine TDs. Tom Gatewood eclipsed Snow's record for receptions and yardage in 1970. But Snow's nine TD catches stood as the Notre Dame record for 30 years-until Derrick Mayes hauled in 11 in 1994. "Any time one of your records lasts that long, you have to feel pretty lucky, " says Snow, who had good speed and hands and the ability to catch a pass in a crowd. Both Snow and Huarte-who won the Reisman Trophy in his only year as a start- ing player-came virtually out of nowhere that 1964 season. Snow had gone to Notre Dame from little St. Anthony's High School in Long Beach, Calif., where he played foot-

ter for me on a personal basis to get out into the world," Snow remembers. He went on to play 11 seasons in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams, earning a ranking among the club's all-time receiv- ing greats with Tom Fears and Elr oy "Crazylegs" Hirsch. He later developed a successful real-estate business and raised a son and two daugh- ters with his wife, Merry Carole, whom he married shortly after receiving his diplo- ma from Notre Dame. The son,J. T. Snow, is the first baseman for the California Angels, better known until this year for his defensive skills around the bag than for con- sistent hitting. "I would throw golf balls on a bounce to him as a kid," the elder Snow recalls. "That's how he developed his defense." Jack and his wife still maintain a resi- dence in the Long Beach area, where as a boy he moved with his parents from his native Rock Springs, Wyo. A member of the radio broadcasting team of the Rams in recent years, Snow, who also worked on sports talk shows in Los Angeles, has joined the club in its new home in St. Louis. Snow pairs with play-by-play man Gary Bender on KSD-AM 550.

in those days that was good enough." Their ascension, albeit belated, to All- America status almost didn't happen. Huarte, who played only 46 minutes in 1963 and failed to earn a varsity letter, suffered a shoulder separation shortly before the end of the spring practice sea- son of 1964. But by mid-summer Huarte was throwing again and working out in Ana- heim with Snow. Once the fall season started, they wast- ed little time. In an opening-game 31-7 vic- tory over Wisconsin, Snow caught nine pass- es from Huarte for 217 yards. In the season finale, Snow caught 10 passes for 158 yards against USC. But they weren't enough, as the Trojans rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit to score one of the biggest wins in their history, 20-1 7. The stunning defeat, Parseghian's first at Notre Dame, knocked the Irish out of the top spot in the national polls. Snow and Huarte were, of course, disappointed, but each had another year of eligibility and looked forward to returning in 1965. But both men had already completed all the requirements for their degrees-Snow's in sociology, Huarte's in business-and were advised by Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, the univer- sity's president, to go out into the world. ''We thought the team would be even better in '65, but it turned out to be bet-

LARRY BORTSTEIN IS A SPORTSWRITER WITH THE ORANGE COUNTY (CALIF.) REGISTER.