RebKell's Junkie Boards

[ArtBest23]

Fr. Hesburgh, the long time president of Notre Dame and national civil rights leader, died last night at the age of 97. Fr. Hesburgh essentially built Notre Dame into the institution it is today. And, among other things, he was responsible for admitting women to the formerly all-male university, and for hiring Muffet McGraw. He also led a change in the course of Catholic higher education in this country. If you are interested in knowing more about his long life of service, you can read this - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/28/us/rev-theodore-hesburgh-influential-ex-president-of-notre-dame-dies-at-97.html?_r=0

Or, ND has done a very nice video on his life:
http://hesburgh.nd.edu/

But nearly fifty years ago he wrote this in response to an SI piece criticizing ND's decision to fire football coach Terry Brennan. While written decades ago in the context of football, I thought some might find his words interesting and still highly relevant to all collegiate sports, men and women, today:

“Several years ago Sports Illustrated kindly invited me to express some convictions regarding intercollegiate athletics. In a recent (1958) article entitled “Surrender at Notre Dame,” you say that I have found it impossible to live with these convictions at Notre Dame and have reversed myself, or allowed myself to be reversed, albeit reluctantly. If I read the article correctly, and separated the fact from the fiction, your conclusion is derived from the single fact of our having changed football coaches. Here are a few more facts and convictions that may suggest an alternate, although perhaps less colorful, interpretation of that single fact.

“My primary conviction has been, and is, that whatever else a university may be, it must first of all be a place dedicated to excellence. Most of my waking hours are directed to the achievement of that excellence here in the academic order. As long as we, like most American universities, are engaged in intercollegiate athletics, we will strive for excellence of performance in this area too, but never at the expense of the primary order of academic excellence.”

"He (the ND head coach) understands what we stand for and he has our confidence. Despite any syndicated surmises to the contrary, he is not expected to be Rockne, but only himself; he is not to be measured by any nostalgic calculus of wins, losses and national championships but only by the excellence of his coaching and the spirit of his teams."

“A university could make broad and significant changes in academic personnel to achieve greater excellence, and attract only a ripple of attention. But let the same university make a well-considered change in athletics for the same reason, and it sparks the ill-considered charge that it is no longer a first rate academic institution and must henceforth be considered a football factory. It seems to me a little more thought is in order regarding what makes and institution academically first rate…. What the University does athletically, assuming it to be in the proper framework, neither adds to nor subtracts anything from relevant and all-important academic facts.”

“There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football and no academic vice in winning a game that by all odds one should lose...There has been a surrender at Notre Dame, but it is a surrender to excellence on all fronts, and in this we hope to rise above ourselves with the help of God.“

[summertime blues]

Wow. I did not realize he had lived this long. Fr. Hesburgh was one of the heroes of my youth. Thanks, Art, for sharing this. He will be missed.

_________________
Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

[ArtBest23]

He was still up and about and meeting with people. Just a month ago they tweeted a picture of Father Hesburgh meeting with former ND All American ('59) basketball player Tom Hawkins and his family at the time that Hawkins was added to the Notre Dame Ring of Honor in January.

Hawkins recounted the following story about Fr. Hesburgh:

Hawkins had prided himself as a student racial ambassador at Parker, but he had a broader challenge at Notre Dame. He was one of only two black students admitted into the school in 1955, and 10 were on the campus overall. He would be the lone black player on the basketball team and lone black student in any class he took all four of his years.

"It didn't matter to me and I can't tell you why, but I can tell you that in four years on campus I did not have one racial incident," he said. "I didn't because all of my teammates, my freshman advisor, [school president] Father [Ted] Hesburgh … so many people respected me and always looked out for my dignity."

He recalled a day when he was not sat down at a local pizza parlor because he "didn't have a reservation."

"All of the students who were from Notre Dame got up, left their food and didn't pay the bill, and Father Hesburgh immediately put the pizza parlor on the list that Notre Dame personnel could not patronize," Hawkins recalled. "Father Hesburgh said that until I was given a public apology, no Notre Dame student or personnel could go there, and anywhere that Notre Dame minority students aren't welcome, neither was Notre Dame."

Shortly thereafter, a knock on Hawkins' dorm room came from 1956 Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung, who had befriended him.

"He said, 'Damn you, Hawk, I'm missing out on all of my lasagna and pizza, and it's because of your ass,' " Hawkins said, laughing. "So he said, 'C'mon, we're going downtown, and we're going to get your apology and eat.' I got the apology and Father Hesburgh took the restaurant off the list."

[Oldfandepot2]

Rev. Hesburgh said his proudest accomplishment was the admission of the first women to Notre Dame. My condolences to the Notre Dame family on the loss of Rev. Hesburgh, a loss not only for Notre Dame but for all of humanity as well.

_________________
Cave Canem!
We must listen to each other no matter how much it hurts. Bishop Desmond Tutu.

[Ex-Ref]

Father Jenkins (current pres.) said that Father Ted did mass yesterday and had been going into the office up until a week ago.


My memory of him was at the Final Four in '97. That was the first time with the green nail polish AFAIK.

A couple of women were going around painting the nails of anyone who would allow it (pinkies for the guys). Father Ted & Monk Malloy were sitting not too far from me and for some reason one of the women asked me if she should ask them. I'm like sure, can't hurt!

Father Ted allowed his pinky to be painted green in support of the team. Monk politely turned down the offer.