Not sure if I’ve shared this before, but it seemed like as good a place as any.
The ND - Navy game in Dublin in 1996 was a big deal for us, as my ND/St. Mary’s parents had moved to London before I was born so we didn’t get to games in South Bend much. In fact, the ND - Navy game in 1989 (when I was 6 years old) was the only one I’d been to at The Stadium.
My parents left me and my brother (JHND on this site) at the hotel in Dublin 2 nights before the game - we were 13 by that time - to go to a private meet-and-greet with the team, and as they would claim after returning, somehow found themselves talking to Lou.
He told them what a special place the University was (as he always does to ND folks, because he believes it), how much he’d valued his time there, and how much he was enjoying this trip. He also told them he knew his time was coming to an end - that the good fathers seemed ready to move on - but he held no ill will about it.
At least to 13 year old, non-connected ND fans like me and my brother, this was surprising news. We’d worshipped Lou since we were little kids, and I think our parents could see how much they’d brought us down. To cheer us up / change the subject they told us Lou was excited to hear they had identical twin boys, and that he’d LOVE to meet us when the team visited the Book of Kells at Trinity College Library the next day. They did warn us he was obviously a busy man, but we’d go to the Library and try to see him there.
The next morning we chilled outside the front door of the Library at the time Lou allegedly mentioned, not expecting much but excited to see some of our heroes up close (Autry Denson, Marc Edwards, Melvin Dansby, Bert Berry, Kory Minor, Allen Rossum, etc.). Obviously we perked up when Lou hopped off the bus, but were still a little suspect of our parents’ story as they shouted across the crowd, trying to attract his attention. He glanced in their direction, and immediately with a bellow:
“Where are those twins?? Where are those twins?? Let me meet them!”
He pushed his way to us as people crowded around and made at least 2 minutes of conversation with us, asking us what we wanted to study in college and such, and waited patiently as my parents tried to take a few decent pictures of us with their early-90s camera.
Obviously, we still have a framed picture of Lou, my brother and me, as well as the letter he wrote to us (on official ND Head Coach letterhead) mere weeks before his “resignation”, thanking US for spending time with HIM in Ireland, and hoping we’d study hard enough to be accepted at ND, so we could make our dreams come true there, as he was able to.
As I said up top, I still shake my head about it, 30 years later. I don’t know if I’d still be the ND football fan I am today, now with a wife, 2 kids and all the weight that time brings, if it weren’t for that moment.
He’s a special man.