Memories (Part 2)

My father took me to my first Notre Dame game in 1962 versus Michigan State. I was 9 years old and didn't remember much about it except it was cold, rainy and there was not much to cheer about.
Michigan State pasted Notre Dame 31-7. It was Joe Kuharich's second to last year and back then, they couldn't give away tickets. They used to beg Catholic churches to bring busses of fans, which is how we got there.
We stayed for the whole game and enjoyed the band afterwards.
I was the oldest of 5 kids, ND tickets got tough to get when Parsegian arrived in 1964, and so we didn't get to another game until I bought us tickets for the Georgia Tech game in 1979.
I actually called Georgia Tech over the summer, faked an drawl and they sold me 4 tickets. So, it was me, Dad, Mom and my wife (7 months pregnant with our first). We piled in the car, went to the game and were quite surprised to find we were actually in the bleachers on the field down in the end zone, not 6 feet from the endline. Vagas Ferguson scored 3 times right in front of us and Notre Dame won 21-13. Dad and I were thrilled...Mom and Anne not so much.
It poured down rain at halftime. Dad and I didn't leave our seats while Mom and Anne spent most of the second half under the stadium where it was dry. Not a real good experience for my wife, especially whe we had to drive home with Mom & Dad smoking in the car and hardly able to roll down the windows because of the rain.
Remember, back then you had to either know someone or have the courage to drive all the way to South Bend and hope to buy from a scalper.
Most of our memories were of the big games on TV...Southern Cal, Michigan State, Purdue, the Cotton Bowl (70 & 71) and Sugar Bowl (73). Win or lose, my Dad enjoyed Notre Dame football...though he preferred winning. My last great memory of Dad was the 1988 Notre Dame - Miami game in South Bend.
More on that later.

Notre Dame Memories (Part 1)

Subway alumni share their memories with their offspring more than the ND alums do because the son shares the father's status as SubAlum. I have no evidence of this, not even anecdotal; just something I've surmised in talking to sons of ND Alums and comparing it to my experiences with my father and my sons.
My first ND memory actually was my father's memory of the 1961 Notre Dame-Syracuse game in South Bend. I was 8 years old and only remember that I stayed at my grandmothers house while Mom & Dad went to the game. They drove up and back the same day, no easy feat in 1961 before expressways and 80 miles an hour, and got home late that night to pick me up. They brought me a Notre Dame pennant that I still have hanging in my "man-cave."
Anyway, Notre Dame was behind 15-13 to a pretty good Syracuse team featuring Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis (shown above), when they tried an improbable 51 yard field goal in the rain with mere seconds left. Not surprisingly in the era of straight-on kickers, they missed. However, the kicker was "roughed" by the Syracuse rush and so Notre Dame got to try the kick again from 36 yards away with no time on the clock and, you guessed it, made the kick and won the game!
Notre Dame - 17, Syracuse - 15.
(Syracuse fans dispute the referee call and in fact, Syracuse appealed to the NCAA to take away the Notre Dame victory on such an obvious "homer" call...waah, waah, waah. Judge for yourself. It looks pretty blatant to me.)

Anyway, my father threw his hat in the air in celebration of the great Notre Dame victory. Like most of the men of that time, he wore a fedora hat and had his business card tucked into the inside brim. Of course, he couldn't find the hat in the excitement of the aftermath and came home hatless. (A small price to pay for witnessing such a win.)
About 3 weeks to a month later, he received a package in the mail. It was his hat, cleaned and blocked with a simple note enclosed, "Go Irish." He never knew who did it, but that was my first memory of what is means to be a Notre Dame fan.
Dad and I went to 3 Notre Dame games together over the next 26 years and we had some great experiences, but the anonymous return of his hat in 1961 remains my personal favorite Notre Dame story.

Kelly is "One of Us"

Yeah, CW was an alum and Davie an assistant at ND; but not since Lou Holtz have we had a true Subway Alumnus at the helm at Notre Dame.
(I remember Lou relaying a story about how they sang the ND Fight Song every morning in grade school as they marched from outside into the school building.)
This is a guy who needs no training on history.
* He remembers Lindsay Nelson and ND highlights on Sunday mornings (the only way you saw most ND games back in the 60's).
* He remembers the heartbreak at SC in '64 and the game of the century in '66 and Coley O'Brien.
* He knows why Bud Wilkinson always hated Notre Dame and about "Ara, stop the snow."
These are things that the likes of Stoops, Ferenz and others would have had to catch up on in a book. A SubAlum remembers them (or for you younger ones, read about when you were 10 years old or had your father tell you about them).
Lou Holtz loved and lived ND, and had the coaching skills to make his very positive mark on ND football. Kelly looks like the same type of leader.
I have been reading a number of stories about Coach Kelly's leadership skills these past several days and am more and more impressed by his ability to lead young men.
The people in Cincinnati are sad and angry about his departure, but he had the ND clause in his contract (just like Lou at Minnesota) so it was no secret what would happen if the timing was right for him to go to his "dream job." I have no problem with the way this was done, either by ND or by Coach Kelly.
I had a UC grad say to me, "You'd feel different if he were leaving Notre Dame for another school..." I guess she was right, I would; but since it has never happened, I'll have to wait till it does to know for sure. (I love you, Anne.)