My family
by TerryD (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


My grandfather emigrated from Ireland. He was born in 1864 (believe it or not) and came to America in 1882. Obviously, I never met him (I was born in 1957). Both he and my Dad (born in 1900), were coal miners in Southwestern Pa. They both became fans of Notre Dame in 1913, after hearing about Gus Dorias, Knute Rockne, the forward pass and the victory over Army.

Every member of my family since then have been ND fans. My parents actually took their honeymoon trip to an ND game in 1939.

We only watched and listened to ND games growing up. When I was a kid, I actually thought that other universities had teams so ND had someone to play and beat, like the Washington General and the Globetrotters.

My brother fought in Vietnam in 1966-67. All of his letters in the fall of 1966 started with "How did the Irish do?".

I have lots of memories of listening to and watching Irish football games with my Dad and my brothers. My 81 year old Dad would get his Blue & Gold and sit down to figure out the Irish depth chart for the next season. He went to one Irish game per year until he was 83.

He died in 1985. My oldest brother (not the Vietnam vet) died in 1994. They instilled a love of Notre Dame (the university, not just its sports programs) in me.

I have done the same with my two sons and my daughter. They are the only Irish fans in their respective schools in this rabid LSU Tiger town. My 17 year old son wants to attend Notre Dame. I am hopeful.

People (other teams' fans)have questioned why I am an ND fan and sometimes try to tell me that I have no "connection" with this university. I tell them that they are full of shit.


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