A Knute Rockne bust sculpted by Nison Tregor
Q. This is a bust of Knute Rockne, the legendary Notre Dame football coach. It is approximately 7½ inches tall and signed “Nison” something. The first name is clear but the last name is not. It may be “Treg,” or “Tregoo,” or “Jtrejoo.” It was in my father’s possession since 1931. Can you identify it?
A. It can be difficult identifying a piece of art with only a partially readable signature. But in this case we got lucky.
Knute Rockne was born in Voss, Norway, on March 4, 1888, and died in a plane crash Bazaar, Kan., on March 31, 1931. He was on his way to California to take part in the filming of the movie “The Spirit of Notre Dame,” but the wing of his plane separated in flight and the aircraft crashed in a wheat field.
President Herbert Hoover called his death “a national loss.” Rockne came to this country at age 5 and the family settled in Chicago. He played football throughout his school years, and when he attended the University of Notre Dame in Indiana he became an All-American in 1913.
Rockne graduated from Notre Dame with a pharmacy degree and got a job in the lab at his alma mater. He assisted with the football team and eventually became its head coach. During his tenure, he and his team won three national championships and had five undefeated seasons.
The item in today’s question was probably made at the time of Rockne’s death. The artist was a man named Nison A. Tregor, who was born in Vilna, Lithuania, in 1904.
He served in the Russian army from 1919 to 1920, but came to the United States in 1922. He studied sculpture under Malvina Hoffman and Herman Atkins McNeil, and today he is primarily noted for his busts of such people as Douglas MacArthur, Henry Ford and Dwight Eisenhower.
His bust of Eisenhower is particularly notable because a copy of this work (circa 1961 from the 1957 original) is in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington. According to the Gallery website, Tregor began the work on this bust in his studio in Paris, but finished the process with two sessions with the president at the White House. This is said to be the only sculptural representation of Eisenhower done during his presidency.
Tregor died in 1972.
We feel this particular Tregor bust of Rockne is probably worth less than $1,000 for insurance purposes, and probably more in the $600-to-$800 range if it is in perfect condition.
Ÿ Contact Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson at Treasures in Your Attic, P.O. Box 18350, Knoxville, TN 37928.