On Wednesday, September 25th, the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame will hold their 23rd annual Induction and Awards Dinner at the new Wintrust Center in Chicago. Past induction classes have honored such Irish legends as Knute Rockne, “Moose” Krause, George Connor, John Lattner, Ara Parseghian, Tim Brown, Jerome Bettis, and Muffet McGraw. In 2019, two more Notre Dame greats will join them: National championship-winning coach Lou Holtz and four-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Bryant Young.

Lou came to Notre Dame in 1986 with plenty of experience building up programs. His 1988 team won Notre Dame’s last national title, his 1993 team won the Irish’s last major bowl game, and he is second only to fellow inductee Rockne on the list of winningest Irish head football coaches. He followed up his brilliant Notre Dame career by firing up a dormant South Carolina football program before embarking on a long-running stint on ESPN’s many college football analysis shows. He now lives in Florida with his wife, Beth.

Bryant Young was a starting defensive lineman on that 1993 team that should have won Holtz’s second crown. Young lettered all four years and started for three before graduating in the spring of 1994. San Francisco drafted him in the first round, and his 14 straight seasons with them makes him the 3rd-longest-tenured 49er ever. He was selected to the NFL Pro Bowl four times, was named to the All-Decade team for the 1990s, and was the Comeback Player of the Year in 1999 after a devastating knee injury knocked him out late in the previous season.

The dinner and ceremony begins at 7pm, with a VIP reception and cocktail hour at 5:30 for those so inclined. There is also an opportunity to purchase an ad in the dinner’s book to convey your message of congratulations to Lou & Bryant.

Tickets for the event are available only through the HOF’s website. Both VIP and dinner tickets, along with the ad book slots, can be purchased by clicking the logo below.