Student memory from 1993
by Sammer (2005-11-09 01:07:26)

In reply to: The broken link: What has ND's football tradition meant to you?  posted by Board Ops


I was fortunate to be a student at Notre Dame during their 1993 championship run. The day before the Florida State game I attended a talk by baseball great Tony Gwynn at the ND law school. The audience asked Gwynn who he thought would win the game.

Gwynn stated unequivocally that Notre Dame would win, although Florida State had superior players. The reason Gwynn believed Notre Dame would win was the spirit of "winning" on campus. Everywhere Gwynn went on campus, he heard people talk about winning this game. He believed the Irish Spirit would carry Notre Dame to a victory, and he was right.

That spirit of winning, of overcoming insurmountable odds, permeated the campus in 1993. I don't believe this spirit was something new. This was something born of a long tradition of being the underdog and winning despite the odds. Even outsiders like Tony Gwynn could feel this spirit. It's special, unique to Notre Dame, and worth carrying forward to future generations.