Countdown to BCS showdown: Stamps of approval

Friday, January 1, 1904

COUNTDOWN TO SHOWDOWN

In the 25 days leading up to college football's championship game between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, the Chattanooga Times Free Press is counting down the traditions and memorable moments involving the Irish and the Crimson Tide. Today is No. 22.

photo Bowl Championship Series 2013

Notre Dame's Knute Rockne is the greatest coach in the history of sports, at least according to the United States Postal Service.

Rockne became the first athletic coach at any level to be featured on a postage stamp when a commemorative stamp in his honor was dedicated at the university on March 9, 1988. The stamp was unveiled on the 100th anniversary of Rockne's birth, and it was the sixth in an American Sports Series that previously recognized Babe Zaharias, Bobby Jones, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe and Roberto Clemente.

There were roughly 160 million Rockne stamps printed.

Attending the unveiling of Rockne's stamp was president Ronald Reagan, who portrayed Irish halfback George Gipp in the 1940 Warner Brothers film "Knute Rockne -- All-American." Rockne coached the Irish to a 105-12-5 record from 1918 to 1930, winning six national championships.

After leading Notre Dame to a 19-0 record in the 1929-30 seasons, Rockne died on March 31, 1931, when a Transcontinental-Western plane going from Kansas City to Los Angeles became covered in ice and crashed in Kansas.

In 1997, the U.S. Postal Service issued commemorative stamps of former Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, former Chicago Bears coach George Halas and former Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.