William Shakespeare (American football)

William Valentine Shakespeare (September 27, 1912 – January 17, 1974) was an American football player.

The following week, Shakespeare ran for a touchdown against Carnegie Tech at Pitt Stadium—the first touchdown scored by Notre Dame in Pittsburgh since 1931.

He enrolled at the University of Notre Dame in 1932, the year after the death of the school's legendary football coach Knute Rockne.

He played at the halfback position, and also handled punting, for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football teams from 1933 to 1935.

He played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football teams in 1933, 1934, and 1935, and was selected as a consensus All-American in 1935.

Because of his shared name with William Shakespeare, "The Bard of Avon", he acquired nicknames "The Bard of Staten Island" and "The Merchant of Menace".

Newspapers reported that, though he claimed to be a direct descendant of the Bard, Shakespeare had flunked his sophomore English class.

As a sophomore in 1933, Shakespeare was a substitute at the halfback position.

He also showed promise as a punter with an average of 53.2 yards on five punts.

In 1934, newspapers published a photograph of Shakespeare staring at a football in the manner of Hamlet examining Yorick's skull under the caption "To Be Or Not To Be -- Football Player or English Wizard Is Perplexing Question Facing William Shakespeare, of Notre Dame."

As a junior in 1934, Shakespeare became the starting left halfback in the Notre Dame's first year under new coach Elmer Layden.

In an October 1934 win over Carnegie Tech, Shakespeare ran 56 yards for a touchdown on a sweep play around the right end.

The Associated Press noted: "Superb blocking opened the route for Shakespeare, who put a little reverse English on his dash and then outfooted the field to score."

On November 24, 1934, he helped lead the Irish to a 12–6 win over Army with a 67-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Vairo in front of a crowd of 81,000 at Yankee Stadium.

The Associated Press wrote that "the Irish scored a touchdown on a sensational pass, Shakespeare to Captain Vairo, who took the ball on Army's 15 as he was surrounded by three cadets and broke away to spring across the goal line."

And in the final week of the season, he threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Francis "Mike" Layden in a 14–0 win over the University of Southern California.

He led the 1934 Notre Dame team in several offensive categories, including passing (230 yards and two touchdowns), kickoff returns (60 yards on four returns), and punting (41 punts for 1,638 yards and a 40.0 yard average).

He gained his greatest acclaim for throwing the winning touchdown pass as time ran off the clock in Notre Dame's 1935 victory over Ohio State, a game that was voted the best game in the first 100 years of college football.

Shakespeare was selected as a consensus first-team All-American in 1935 and was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.

Sharing the same name as "The Bard of Avon", Shakespeare earned nicknames including "The Bard of Staten Island", "The Bard of South Bend", and "The Merchant of Menace".

Shakespeare was born on Staten Island, New York.

His father, Valentine Shakespeare, was a New York City firefighter and the captain of Fire Company 163.

The family claimed to be direct descendants of the famed writer William Shakespeare.

The younger Shakespeare became a star football player at Staten Island's Port Richmond High School.

He showed particular talent as a punter and later told reporters that he had trained his pet fox terrier to retrieve his punts as he practiced his technique.

In the opening game of the 1935 season, Shakespeare threw a pass from the 50-yard to Wayne Millner, who caught the ball on the five-yard line and ran into the endzone for a touchdown as Notre Dame defeated Kansas 28–7.

Against Wisconsin on October 12, 1935, he caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Vic Wojcihovski to help lead Notre Dame to a 13-0 win at Camp Randall Stadium.

In the fourth week of the 1935 season, Notre Dame beat Pitt, 9–6, as Shakespeare scored Notre Dame's only touchdown.

Shakespeare also booted an 86-yard punt (70 yards in the air) in the Pitt game, still the longest punt in Notre Dame football history.

He also kicked a 75-yard punt against Navy in 1935 that ranks as the fifth-longest in school history.

On November 2, 1935, Notre Dame faced the undefeated 1935 Ohio State Buckeyes team in front of a crowd of 81,000 at Ohio Stadium.

Ohio State was heavily favored in the game and led at half-time by a score of 13–0.

The score remained the same at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Irish rallied in the fourth quarter for two touchdowns to narrow Ohio State's lead to 13–12.

With less than a minute left in the game, Notre Dame's quarterback Andy Pilney ran for a 30-yard gain to the Ohio State 19-yard line.

Pilney was injured on the play and had to be carried off the field on a stretcher.

Shakespeare replaced Pilney and threw a pass into the arms of an Ohio State player who intercepted the ball but dropped it before securing possession.

With the clock running out, the ball was snapped to fullback Jim McKenna, who handed it to Shakespeare on what appeared to be a reverse.

Shakespeare threw a pass into the endzone, which was caught by Wayne Millner on his knees for an 18–13 win.

The 1935 Notre Dame-Ohio State match was regarded as one of the greatest comebacks in history of the sport.

Red Barber, who broadcast the game on radio, later called it "the greatest college football game I ever called."