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.
"[9] 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.
"[10] 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.
[12] 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.
[14][15] 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.
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.
"[20] In The New York Times, Allison Danzig opened his report on the game by writing, "One of the greatest last-ditch rallies in football history toppled the dreaded Scarlet Scourge of Ohio State from its lofty pinnacle today as 81,000 dumbfounded spectators saw Notre Dame score three touchdowns in less than fifteen minutes to gain an almost miraculous 18–13 victory in jammed Buckeye Stadium.
"[20] Radio announcer Tom Manning added, "I always said Shakespeare had a pair of rosary beads and a bottle of holy water in his back pocket.
One nun told a reporter of overhearing a colleague in her convent "gamefully bargaining" and eventually "threatening" the Poor Souls and saints for another Notre Dame touchdown.
[20] The Chicago Tribune later noted the irony that it was a truly ecumenical group that combined for the famed "Hail Mary" pass: "Mazziotti, a Catholic, handed to Shakespeare, a Protestant on a fake reverse.
[23] The week after the Ohio State game, Notre Dame faced Northwestern featuring All-American end Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Before the game, the Associated Press carried a story profiling the two players: "Shakespeare and Longfellow will meet tomorrow —- not to trade verses, but to play all the football they know.
The ball fell from Millner's arms, but the referee called pass interference and Notre Dame scored on the next play from the two-yard line.
Before turning to a career in business, Shakespeare did take time to appear with fellow All-Americans Jay Berwanger, Bobby Wilson, Monk Moscrip and Gomer Jones in the RKO Pictures feature film, The Big Game.
He was commissioned as a captain and commanded a machine-gun platoon of the 424th Infantry Regiment, which played a prominent role in the Ardennes breakthrough, and served in Northern France and the Rhineland Campaign.