Jack Chevigny

John Edward "Jack" Chevigny (August 14, 1906 – February 19, 1945) was an American football player, coach, lawyer, soldier, and Marine Corps officer who was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. One of the Great Depression era football stars, he was one of the best blocking backs for Knute Rockne's Notre Dame football team in the 1920s. Chevigny later served as the head coach of the NFL's Chicago Cardinals in 1932 and the head football coach at the University of Texas from 1934 to 1936. On August 18, 1979, he was inducted posthumously into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.

Early life
Chevigny was born in Dyer, Indiana, the son of Julius Chevigny, a physician originally from Quebec, Canada who had served in the U.S. Army stationed in New York during World War I, and Rose Ann Chevigny. He attended Catholic grade school in Dyer before moving to Hammond, Indiana where he attended Hammond High School and played football at, and graduated president of his class in 1924. He had two brothers and two sisters.

University of Notre Dame
Part of the legend of Notre Dame football history was that Chevigny, who played three seasons as Right Halfbackfrom 1926 to 1928, scored the winning touchdown against Army on November 10, 1928 (the 153rd birthday of the US Marine Corps) in Yankee Stadium after Knute Rockne’s famous "Win one for the Gipper" halftime speech (in memory of Norte Dame football great, George Gipp) with Chevigny yelling, "That's one for the Gipper," as he crossed the goal line with the winning score. Knute Rockne had related the details in an autobiography published in Collier's magazine in 1930. Actually, Chevigny scored the tying touchdown during the 3rd quarter against undefeated Army (then 6-0), to even the score 6–6, and Johnny O'Brien, also inspired by Rockne's speech, ran for the 12–6 game winning touchdown.

Football coach and attorney
Chevigny became an assistant football coach under Rockne after playing football for Norte Dame. He left Notre Dame after Rockne's death by an airplane crash in 1931. He coached the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL to a 2–6–2 record in 1932. He left that position to become head coach at St. Edwards University, a sister school of Notre Dame, in Austin, Texas. When the University of Texas began looking for a new coach in 1934, Chevigny was chosen for that. He directed a 7–6 victory over his alma mater, Notre Dame, during the second game played in South Bend, Indiana. The Texas Longhorns finished the season at 7–2–1. The 1935 team didn't play as well and Chevigny finished his coaching career at the University of Texas with a 13–14–2 record in three seasons and was the only state of Texas head coach to have an overall losing record. In 1937, Chevigny resigned his Texas Longhorns coaching position and was appointed Deputy Attorney General of Texas. Following that, he worked in the oil industry in Texas.

U.S. Army
Chevigny (then 36 years-old) was drafted into the U.S. Army in March 1943. He completed basic training at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. He was assigned afterwards to Fort Lawton in Seattle, Washington, a training and staging base. A Corporal in the U.S. Army, he received an Honorable Discharge on June 10, 1943 in order to be released for service in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

U.S. Marine Corps
He was directly commissioned a First Lieutenant going on active duty in the Marine Corps Reserve on June 11, 1943 in Seattle. The Marine Corps District Headquarters Induction and Recruitment Station in Seattle immediately used him in a public-relations enlistment poster photo wearing his summer officers service uniform. Afterwards, he was transferred to Officer Indoctrination and Physical Training schools at Camp Pendleton, California. In September 1943, he was assigned to Camp Lejeune in New River, North Carolina as a physical training instructor, athletic officer, and assistant coach of the Camp Lejeune football team. He soon became head coach, renaming the team (then 0-2-1), the "Camp Lejeune Leathernecks" (6-2-1). In late 1943, he requested a combat assignment.

Iwo Jima
In January 1944, Chevigny reported for duty at Camp Pendleton, California. After brief duty as an instructor, he was assigned to Headquarters Company, Headquarters Battalion, Fifth Marine Division. He was sent with the 5th Division to Camp Tarawa, Hawaii to train for the assault of Iwo Jima (Operation Detachment) which would include two other Marine divisions of the V Amphibious Corps. He was reassigned for duty as a liaison officer of H&S Company, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division. The 27th Marines landed on "Red Beach 1" and "Red Beach 2" on February 19, 1945 (D-day).

Death
1st Lt. Chevigny was one of the many hundreds of Marines and Navy corpsmen killed in action on the seven color named and numbered landing zones, each 550-yards wide, that together stretched for two miles of beach on the southeast side of Iwo Jima.

Japanese surrender
Another legend surrounding Chevigny is that, after the 1934 football victory, he had been presented a fountain pen with the inscription, "To Jack Chevigny, a Notre Dame boy who beat Notre Dame", and that on September 2, 1945, this pen was discovered in the hands of one of the Japanese officer envoys at the surrender of Japan on the USS Missouri, and that the inscription was changed to read, "To Jack Chevigny, a Notre Dame boy who gave his life for his country in the spirit of old Notre Dame". The legend, which surfaced in 1945 in conjunction with the anniversary of the November 10, 1928 football game, has been a part of Notre Dame lore ever since.

Burial place
1st Lt. Chevigny was buried in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima and later was reburied in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (called the "Punchbowl"; dedicated in 1949) in Honolulu, Hawaii. His tombstone is located in Section C, Site 508.