How Notre Dame is your dad?

Does your dad own more ND apparel than you do? Does he text you frequent score updates of every home football game, even though he already called you three times that day to make sure you’d be there? Have you ever stopped to wonder why your brother was named Rudy?

If this sounds like you, know that you are not alone.

Whether you know it or not, something magical happened on the day you decided to come to Notre Dame.  Immediately upon accepting your offer of admission to the university, you, your parents, your siblings, your friends, your entire extended family, and that one distant relative whose lineage is still unclear to you were all immediately inducted into a secret, cult-like organization that outsiders often refer to as the “Notre Dame family”.

Lou Holtz said it best when he said: “Those who know Notre Dame, no explanation is necessary. Those who don’t, no explanation will suffice.”

ND love is real, and it manifests itself differently in every family that has ever had the privilege to experience it.

However, there is a certain breed that seems to consistently take its enthusiasm for Notre Dame over the top time and time again. Here are a few dads who take the phrase “Love thee” to a whole new level.

Keenan White, Freshman, Political Science and History majors

On dad’s level of obsession: “First, it’s important to note that my dad named me, his eldest daughter, after his ND dorm, Keenan Hall.”

Keenan recalls, “I can’t pinpoint one specific story, however I can offer a list of things broken in the White household during Notre Dame football games over the years: remote control, outdoor light fixture, screen door, light switch (punched a hole through it), hole in the wall (shape of football).”

“During ND games we are not allowed to speak, not even during commercials, and my dad has been known on a number of occasions to ‘bet the entire house’ that the Irish will lose.

Yet, he remains a loyal fan despite his frustration – he has never ever missed a Notre Dame game. Even when we were living or traveling abroad, he would wake up at 3 am and go to an internet café to watch the game.

“On the day in 2012 that the college rankings came out revealing that Notre Dame was #1, my dad put the family in the car, drove to campus, and made us all get in Stonehenge.

“At all times my dad wears his class ring along side and as proudly as his wedding ring.”

Brandon Anderson, Sophomore, Accounting Major

On dad’s level of obsession: “Well, we painted my ceiling gold to mimic the dome, and my dog’s name is Rudy, if that counts.”

TNDM: “My fondest memory is my dad constantly screaming at the TV during ND football games, but specifically at Tommy Rees—he tried to talk to Rees through the TV, and he would always say that Rees looked like a deer in the headlights.”

Gabriella Mezzacappa, Sophomore, Marketing major with Chinese and Italian minors

TNDM: I moved into Notre Dame a day before the official move-in day for all freshmen in order to take a placement test for a class. The next morning on move-in day, my dad was so eager to see my dorm that he woke me up early in order to get there before the madness of move-in began.

We got to the dorm at 8 am before any other students were around and started bringing my bags into my room, at which point we promptly ran into my rector, who not-so-kindly reminded my father that it was against the rules for a man to be in a woman’s dorm before 9 AM (a rule with which I innocently was not yet familiar).

Therefore, because of my dad’s inability to chill, I got in trouble for breaking parietals my first day ever at Notre Dame.

Jacklyn Cooney, Sophomore, Environmental Sciences Major

“My favorite memory was when my wife (girlfriend at the time), her parents and myself attended the game where the Fighting Irish won the National Championship in the Cotton Bowl in 1977.

“Further, I have great memories of the Grace-Flanner Prank Wars, but I feel like I shouldn’t pass along ideas to current students.”

Mike Doherty, Freshman, Economics Major

“As a small child, there were very few things I found scarier than my dad during a Notre Dame football game. He would clap loudly, scream his lungs out, and sometimes throw things. I think I learned more swear words from my dad on Saturday afternoons in the fall than I did in twelve years of public school.”

“Our house is full of Notre Dame posters and gear, and the name “Lou Holtz” has always been used with reverence.

“When I was in the fourth grade, my dad brought me to Notre Dame for a football game for the first time. Because he wanted to get the full football weekend experience, we left early Friday morning and got to campus around noon. From that point until the game started at 3:30 on Saturday, we did and saw everything that could have been done and seen at Notre Dame.”

“I had a great time seeing campus and watching the game with my dad. Afterwards, I realized that Notre Dame is my dad’s favorite place in the world. Nothing makes him happier than walking around campus on a game day while wearing his Joe Montana jersey and eating a steak sandwich.

“He’s like a kid at Disney World, except that I’m pretty sure most kids are less upset to leave Disney World than my dad is to leave Notre Dame.”

Maggie Dever, Freshman, Program of Liberal Studies Major

On dad’s level of obsession: “He has a replica of the #1 sign above Grace Hall in his office that is his most prized possession. If Notre Dame loses a game, no matter what time, his anger leads him to go outside and do yard work.

“He also reads ND Nation religiously and hits our very own “Play Like A Champion Today” sign every time he walks downstairs. According to my mom, my dad legitimately sang the Notre Dame fight song to my brothers and I when we were babies instead of lullabies – I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we all independently chose to come to Notre Dame.”

Joshua Meyers, Sophomore, Arabic and French and Francophone Studies Majors

“He’s not obsessed, but follows soccer and basketball and football and we have ND cups and mugs and paintings and clocks and birdhouses…. Maybe he is obsessed.”

The few, the proud, the triple domers—one of the rare people who was so infatuated with South Bend winters that he just had to have nine of them.

Dad’s favorite memory at Notre Dame? “Harry Oliver’s 51-yard field goal as the last play to beat Michigan in 1980. Oddly, the wind stopped as he was kicking the ball.  Michigan papers said ‘Michigan 27, Notre Dame 26, God 3.'”