That changed in 2017 with the latest renovations. There was not much to see inside, other than the locker rooms and the PLACT sign and steps. The stadium for decades was bare-bones in terms of approach. Andrews, Pebble Beach, the Rose Bowl Stadium and Madison Square Garden. Notre Dame Stadium: Put it on the same sort of bucket list as Wimbledon, Augusta, Wrigley Field/Fenway Park/Yankee Stadium, Lambeau Field, Churchill Downs, St. As Ara Parseghian, another former Irish head coach, used to say when he walked past a bust of Rockne, “You started all this.” There’s a rest stop bearing his name on the Indiana Toll Road a bit west of South Bend. There’s the Rockne Memorial Building on campus. There’s Rockne Drive, a South Bend street southeast of campus. There’s a sculpture of Rockne at the north end of Notre Dame Stadium for every Irish player to see and walk past every time he enters that facility. He sold tickets, he marketed the program and the University, he designed the original Notre Dame Stadium and he courted the national media. He did not just coach - and he did that as well as anyone in the history of the game. But there’s no way to appreciate the ongoing excellence of the Irish program without understanding how Rockne started it all, especially from a marketing sense. Knute Rockne: Of course it’s really old-school because his first season as Notre Dame’s head coach came 100 years ago. Here are more agenda items to consider, in absolutely random order: What we really have here is a celebration of everything Notre Dame football. This year is the 25th anniversary of the release of the film, which has been shown each of the last two years a week prior to the football season on the Notre Dame Stadium video board. #Notre dame fighting irish football victory march movieRudy (actually Dan Ruettiger) - both the person and the movie - have helped identify Notre Dame and Irish football for a whole generation of fans, many of whom have never been to South Bend and have formed much of their opinion about Notre Dame from that film. He became something of an institution - and now the weekly message comes from his taped audio archives. The now-retired Tim McCarthy, formerly of the Indiana State Police, for decades delivered his weekly safety zinger at home games. Pep rallies over time developed into must-see parts of a Notre Dame football weekend, compared to the old days when they were mainly student-only affairs. When the Campus Crossroads project that concluded a year ago featured a completely new north end, the one area that was not touched was the sign and the locker room stairway that leads to it. The “Play Like A Champion Today” sign in the passageway that leads from the Notre Dame locker room to the tunnel and the Notre Dame Stadium field has become one of the most photographed spots anywhere on campus (based on access). Many of the peripheral elements connected to Fighting Irish football come from the color-and-pageantry department. You may have been following football at Notre Dame for 50 years - or for 50 minutes - and either way, there’s no chance your list would be the same as another. That’s just one that might make a newcomer’s unsanctioned list. Word is there are groups that make pilgrimages to the cemetery each Saturday morning before the Irish play at home - with toasts involving adult beverages a part of those visits.įans leave behind a variety of items at the gravesite - cigars, small bottles of liquor, photos, notes and other paraphernalia related to Notre Dame football. The headstone is not well-marked, but a stop at the cemetery office can produce a map to locate it. Let’s consider all the obvious activities - and then let’s throw in a few more that maybe are not quite as well-known.įor example, a stop at the gravesite of Hall of Fame Irish football coach Knute Rockne at Highland Cemetery on the west side of South Bend might be an interesting consideration. It’s a proven fact they want to park in the exact same spot week to week and tailgate in the identical location.īut, for any neophyte in South Bend this weekend, let’s start with a blank slate. They stick to an agenda, stopping at the same haunts, connecting at the same locales with friends and family. Plenty of University of Notre Dame fans are into routine when they head to South Bend for a football weekend.
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