For the ND fan who has everything; and meeting up...

...with Ronald Reagan.

Almost 2 weeks ago I went up to campus to have dinner with my daughter and also to take in, by happenstance, a talk by a former poster here, who back then traveled under the screen name of Ronald Reagan and is otherwise known as Jack Sacco, class of '78. Several years ago he wrote a book (one of several he's had published) about the exploits of his father's unit in WWII, which entered the concentration camp at Dachau at virtually the same time as units of the 42nd infantry division for the liberation of that camp. He's given his talk a number of times around the country. On April 10 he spoke at the library auditorium on campus to about 60 people and afterwards there was a little reception in the glass-walled Scholars Lounge across from the auditorium entrance.

Right after the lecture I went over to Lou Nanni, who is now VP for university relations but some years ago was in some role at the Sorin Society and had gotten my dad and I two first-row, 50-yard-line tickets behind the ND bench for the first home game of the 2003 season versus Washington State; it was my dad's first game back at ND since he'd had a frankly ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and lived to tell the tale. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to Lou and thank him face to face for that kindness. As we chatted he pointed at an older lady in a sensible red wool coat buying a copy of Sacco's book at a table at one side of the auditorium and whispered, "There's Mrs. Hofman -- Emil T.'s wife." I was going to get a copy of the book too, and no one else was there at the moment so I came beside Mrs. Hofman and introduced myself, telling her that I'd always tried to get a 7 on every quiz her husband had given, and that he had been a great leader of the Freshman Year of Studies, as it was known in 72-73. She smiled and shook her head saying she was sorry they were ending that program. Then the person taking payments asked her, "faculty or staff" (for a discount) and Mrs. H said, "faculty," upon which the person asked, "do you have ID?" I wanted to yell, "Hey, this is Emil T's widow! She doesn't need any effin' ID."

My daughter and I chatted a bit with Sacco at the reception. He asked what she was studying and when she told him, computer science and physics, he laughed and recounted a physics class he'd taken where he thought he hadn't gotten the points he deserved on a final, but figured there was nothing he could do; but then the next day before leaving campus for Christmas break, when he stopped by the prof's office to say Merry Christmas, before Jack could say anything the prof said, "I know why you're here--OK, yes, I gave you 5 more points on the final." We laughed at that and then he said, "You know, these things just happen to me. When I used to post stories on NDNation there were some people who couldn't believe what I was saying and thought I'd made things up; but then I decided that I was getting paid to write things so I didn't need to debate people I didn't know on the internet," which is when he stopped posting here. I'm thinking of his stories about OJ and Ara & Keith in the press box here in the HOF; he did live in LA for some time and did freelance TV production and writing work there. I've seen pics of him with Loretta Young at her house, mugging with her Oscar; at a castle in Austria where he gave a talk and then had his picture taken with a fellow named Georg, Duke of Hohenburg, senior "agnate" of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and the grandson of Archduke Ferdinand (the guy whose assassination was the pretext for the start of WWI); and with a variety of ND football celebrities. I only mention all this for the doubters who lack imagination--if you're of a mind to do so, and travel enough, you can insinuate yourself into all sorts of memorable circumstances. Enough on that--now for the glitter.

My daughter insisted we head to the bookstore to see these fine gift items:

And then I spotted this (pictured here from the online catalog):

I've seen a lot of ND doodads over the years but have to admit I never thought of valve caps. Only $11.99 (plus shipping) for a set of four.