| Wins against Kentucky - 3 | Losses against Kentucky - 16 |
Alma Mater: Notre Dame
Date Born: October 18, 1903
Date Died: April 13, 1983
Overall Record: 111-84 [11 Seasons]

Obituary - Cincinnati Enquirer (April 16, 1983)

XU Players Remember Crowe

Former Notre Dame 'Mule" Was Tough But Fair as a Coach

by Bill Ford

Even in death, Clem Crowe almost was forgotten.

"Clem Crowe, one of the seven mules of Notre Dame's football team in 1925, is dead at the age of 79," reported the Associated Press on Friday, two days after he had passed away in a Rochester, N.Y., hospital.

The 83-word obit contained no mention of Crowe's stewardship at Xavier University where he served as basketball coach (1933-43), football coach (1936-43) and athletic director (1936-43). His football teams went 41-31-2, basketball 95-79 and as AD he helped formulate resumption of the intracity football series with Cincinnati (1942) that was broken off after one game in 1918.

Musketeers will never forget him.

"A DEFENSIVE genius, way ahead of his time," remembered Fred Nebel, a center, class of 1938, the only Xavier player ever selected for the College All-Star game. "We never huddled. Plays were called by signal. While most college played stock 6-3-2 or 6-2-2-1 defenses, we had had four or five formations. The 4-4-2-1 was most unusual. I'd shift to safety on anticipated pass plays."

Charles "Red" Lavelle, quarterback, class of '42, recalled Crowe installing the T-Formation (sacking the Notre Dame box) after the Chicago Bears massacred the Washington Redskins in the National Football League championships.

"We only had one hour for lunch," Lavelle said. "Then we'd go to the practice field and, in our street clothes, run dummy T-Formation plays, then run to class. I'm right-handed, but he found out I threw a couple of left-handed passes in high school. So he designed a couple of left-handed pass plays."

ED KLUSKA, end, 1940 and from 1947-53 XU's head coach, said Crowe's athletic acumen never was fully appreciated.

"He was a terrific basketball coach, but better known for his football which was more publicized. Personally, I remember him as a great coach and an outstanding man. I was interested in physical education and didn't give much thought to coaching. He thought I cold. I joined his staff as an assistant."

Pete Marino, guard, 1941, appreciated Crowe's psychological schemes. "My freshman year, remember in those days freshmen were not eligible. Just cannon fodder for the varsity. One day I was blocked front and rear and was bleeding from the mouth when I hit the ground. He came up, kicked me in the butt and said, 'It's all in your mind.' I got up swinging. He just laughed and said. 'Gotcha going, didn't I?' The next August, before my sophomore year, he said I would be his starting guard. I never missed a game. A big one was with Georgetown which was on the way to the Orange Bowl. He tacked up a clipping in the locker room which said that Georgetown was going to Cincinnati 'by stagecoach to play a little school called Xavier.' We beat 'em in a big upset. Tough but he was fair."

Because Crowe refused to believe a player would want out because of injury, Joe Kruse - tackle, 1936, and for one year the freshman coach and chief scout - knew his boss was disliked. "But they respected him. After all, he was sort of a legend at Notre Dame. If a player went down, coach Crowe wold holler: 'You're staying in there. You're still breathing.' Under today's conditions, coddling athletes, I mean, he wouldn't last 10 minutes. But players wouldn't last five minutes for him either. He was a great strategist and from a teaching standpoint a hell of a coach. Talk about basketball, he was a great coach in that, too. But the advocate of a two-handed set shot. If a kid tried a one-handed jumper, he'd run him out of the gym."

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