I received this email from my friend Andy Nickle, telling the back story to the latest addition to his extensive Knute Rockne collection—thought you'd enjoy this:
In the last year a very significant and previously unknown Knute Rockne artifact surfaced. It is the only known surviving hat owned and worn by Rockne. It has an interesting story of its own—one that helps explain how it has survived for nearly a century.
Maurice Vennet, a well-known South Bend resident in Rockne’s day, put the story in a letter to Richard Batt:
“I came into possession of it because Rock picked up my hat by mistake at the old Elks Club in South Bend, Indiana. We both had attended a meeting to further promote athletic activities at public playgrounds in South Bend.
I was pretty provoked at the time and had no idea who had switched hats with me. My hat had my initials M.C.V. punched in the sweat band and a few days later Rockne's secretary phoned me to apologize for the switch in hats. When I found out whose hat I had, I told her to tell him I would gladly call it a trade (mine was a much better hat) and Rock said O.K. A short time later, Rockne was killed in a plane accident over Kansas....... I have often wondered if he was wearing my hat at the time."
According to Vennet many times before big football games he left his Rockne hat with Jacob Hoffman, the owner of the Hoffman Hotel in South Bend, to display in the Hoffman Barber Shop. However, Vennet was told by Hoffman there were "so many attempts made to swipe it or buy it" that Hoffman finally told him he hated to be responsible. After that Vennet kept the hat at his house.
Vennet wrote that after the trade was agreed upon, Rockne sent him an autographed photo of the Notre Dame coach wearing a hat.
Vennet related how he had, also, loaned that autographed Rockne photo to Jacob Hoffman to hang in the Hoffman Barber Shop where it was on display for many years. After Hoffman died Vennet said he forgot about the photo when the hotel was converted to an office building in the 1960's. He was later told that photos that hung in barber shop likely went to to Moose Krause who was a good friend of Hoffman. That was the last known word of the photo as several decades passed.
Where did Rockne originally purchase this lone surviving hat, a felt Homburg? The name of the South Bend men's store Renfranz-Rasmussen embossed on the hat's silk lining suggests he purchased the hat in downtown South Bend.
Wearing a Homburg or fedora hat became part of Rockne's identity. He likely went through many hats over the years. In the movie script production notes for the actors and others involved with the movie Knute Rockne All-American, which notes are thought to have been provided by his wife Bonnie, there is the following: “Hats, he pulled out of shape in no time, jamming them on without thinking, often putting them on backwards… During a football game, he would keep pulling his hat down, nervously, until at the end of the game it was over his ears.”
Vennet obviously prized the Rockne hat that accidentally came to his possession. He eventually gave the hat to Richard A. Batt Sr., a Notre Dame graduate of the Class of 1941 and the husband of Vennet’s niece, Mary Grace Tilly. Appreciating Batt's love for Notre Dame, Vennet wanted him to have the hat which then remained in Batt's possession until his death in 2015. At that time the hat passed to his son, also, Richard A. Batt, and, also, a Notre Dame graduate with strong loyalties to the school. The Batt family, including Richard A. Batt Jr., his sisters Jennifer Batt, Notre Dame MBA, class of ‘75, Deborah Batt Potter, St. Mary’s College class of ‘73, and Batt's daughter Lorien Batt began looking for an appropriate home for the hat. After the Batt family explored various options I was honored and thrilled when they recently decided they would like the Rockne hat to be part the Rockne collection I have been assembling for over 30 years.
During his adult life Rockne wore Homburg and fedora hats of the same general style. The one Homburg survived because of an accidental exchange at the Elks Club in South Bend—and because Maurice Vennet and the Batt family recognized the hat's historical significance and cared for it across generations.
And now there is a new chapter to the Rockne -Vennet story. Earlier this week, with the tip Vennet left long ago about the missing Rockne photograph, I reached out to the Krause family. I was stunned to learn that the autographed photo of Rockne wearing a Homberg was, in fact, in possession of the Krause family. See photo below. They immediately indicated they would be pleased to have the photo be a part of the Rockne collection which, also, includes the only known Rockne hat - resulting in the autographed photo and the hat which had both gone from Knute Rockne to Maurice Vennet almost 100 years ago to be reunited. once again.
Andy, thanks so much for sharing this story with me!
