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Life on Campus. A big factor in Notre Dame's success story is the Spartan existence that all Notre Dame students lead. At Notre Dame, all students are required to check back into the dormitory no later than midnight, and for most, 10:15 is the curfew. Lights are turned out at 11 p.m., and students who are out on "midnights" must sign the watchman's register as they return. Violators are in danger of immediate dismissal. Each Notre Dame student carries an identification card stating his name and age, which makes it easy for South Bend bartenders. Only students 21 or over may enter beer taverns, and only those 23 and over may enter cafes where hard liquor is sold. No student can have a car on campus.
The football team attends Mass in a body the morning before every game at home or away. Often the non-Catholics (4% of Notre Dame's students) will attend. These include such players as Dick Washington (Baptist), Wayne Edmonds (Baptist) and Menil ("Minnie") Mavraides (Greek Orthodox). Washington and Edmonds, both sophomores, are the first Negroes ever to make the team at Notre Dame, although Negroes have been on the squad before.
Extreme politeness is expected of a Notre Dame man addressing his elders and even a celebrity like Lattner addresses strangers as "mister." Johnny does not smoke and says he drinks only "a couple of beers" when he goes home on weekends after a game. His training philosophy is simple: "If you smoke or drink, you don't put out. If you don't put out, you don't stay on the team."
Johnny is just as intently serious about his education. He aims to become a certified public accountant, and this year, despite the demands of football, he has been maintaining an 81 average in such subjects as accounting, auditing, business ethics, and Government taxation. He is also in Notre Dame's Air Force R.O.T.C., preparing for a turn of active duty soon after graduation.
"Fun on Saturday." It is only on the football field that serious, mild-mannered John Lattner becomes the growling All-America who barrels through enemy lines, knocks down the passes and tackles for the love of it. Coach Leahy rates him Notre Dame's best all round ballplayer since Quarterback Johnny Lujack ('47)—"The thing both boys like to do most is tackle, a sure sign of a real football player." Lattner thoroughly approves of the single-platoon system, because "if you make a good tackle, it peps you up. You get a good feeling, and you're ready to go to town. If you make a mistake on offense, like fumbling, you get a chance to make up for it by tackling." His attitude toward the whole cycle of practice and play: "You work hard all week and have fun on Saturday."
From now until the season winds up with the Southern Methodist game, Dec. 5, Johnny Lattner's duty and Johnny Lattner's fun should coincide. The pressing matter, as he and his yaaaahhrrring teammates see it, is to lug that football, kick that punt, throw that pass and tackle the enemy, to prove to a watching world that Leahy's men can't be beat.