The Spirit of Notre Dame __________ Why the &#147Fighting Irish? Many people wonder (or worry) about Notre Dame and that word, Irish. To us, it doesn't mean race exclusively; nor is it just another nickname. The fact is, it keeps alive the memory of a long, uphill fight for recognition against a spirit that was not always generous, nor even fair-minded. The Irish, as known at Notre Dame, has an authentic history and a meaning deeper even than race. Notre Dame began athletic relations chiefly with local colleges founded by various denominations. Press reports would refer to the schools as the &#147Baptists or the &#147Methodists, and the like. For Notre Dame it was the &#147Catholics, or the &#147Irish. But the players were never all of Irish ancestry; nor were they all Catholics. The usage was not original, but a continuing custom from earlier Colonial times. The bulk of the first Catholic immigrants were Irish -- so that Catholics and Irish were identical in the public mind. It is sad to recall now, but few of the original states were without laws against them.

Advertisements for &#8216help wanted’ commonly carried the restriction: &#147No Catholics. No Irish. The Puritans were the first to cry: &#147Stop the Irish! When the religious origin of other colleges lost its significance, the emphasis shifted to conventional names, and to their school colors. But history is recorded remembrance in our blessed heritage here at Notre Dame. Fighting Irish! It&#8217s more than a name; more than a people. It is the Faith! In narrow, little New England, it began as a slur -- a term of opprobrium. But we took it up and made of it a badge of honor -- a symbol of fidelity and courage to everyone who suffers from discrimination; to everyone who has an uphill fight for the elemental decencies, and the basic Christian principles woven into the texture of our nation. Preserving this tradition, and this meaning of Irish at Notre Dame does honor to everyone of us.

It explains why Lewinski belongs here; why Alessandrini is the Irish leader; why Schmaltz belongs here; why Bertrand, and Moreau, Van Dyke, and Larson feel at home here as much as do Leahy and O&#8217Brien. You And St. Patrick Tomorrow, the world will be green for a day while we honor the patron saint of Erin. Big-hearted people of all nationalities will pause to applaud the contribution of the Irish to the civilization of the world. Best of all contributions made was the Faith which they took with them wherever their wanderings took them. Patrick is a great saint of God; and therefore a great saint of the church. And if he belongs to the Church, then he belongs to you. That&#8217s why you should pray to St. Patrick, asking him to increase your Faith; bolster it; make it a living reality in your everyday life -- keeping you aware that the trials and sufferings of this exile are as nothing when compared to the glory that awaits those who fight the good fight that overcomes the world!

Tomorrow you can take this one lesson from the Irish: they were never so poor in all their wanderings and sufferings that they bartered their Faith for the comforts of this life. They had little to take with them wherever they went; but the Faith was always the most precious of their paltry possessions. Their spirit has made it easier for you to practice your Faith here in America today. May the Fighting Irish always be with us! The Story Behind the Discovery of Fr. Charles Carey&#8217s &#147Why The Fighting Irish? Essay by Dorothy V. Corson My first meeting with Father Carey occurred midway in my research on the Notre Dame Grotto. I had been told by a priest friend at Holy Cross House that he probably knew more about Notre Dame than anyone else since he had lived on campus most of his life. I had a question to ask him about the hand gun used by biologists, Fr. Nieuwland and Prof. Greene, to shoot down the leaf specimens from trees on campus they couldn&#8217t reach. It was a story that made me smile just imagining it, so I couldn&#8217t resist finding out if it really was true.

I had heard that the hand gun was still kept in Fr. Nieuwland&#8217s former desk in the Nieuwland Science Hall and that the priest who now worked at the same desk lived at Corby Hall on campus with Fr. Carey. Fr. Carey visited Holy Cross House on a regular basis to take confessions from the retired and infirm priests living there. On Friday afternoons I would run into him on my regular visits to Holy Cross House to see my priest friends. I have been visiting there since 1971 when Fr. Jan, who hired my father to build the St. Stan&#8217s Grotto, because of failing health, moved there from the Mission House on campus. Upon occasion, I took a Sister friend from St. Mary&#8217s Convent to visit Fr. Jan (Fr. Sigmund Jankowski, C.S.C.) and she always referred to Holy Cross House as the &#147Vestibule of Heaven. At one time, it was the last place priests wanted to go; they would stay instead at Corby Hall in the middle of the campus until there was no other alternative.

Now Holy Cross House has been renovated and enlarged with many views of the campus across St. Joseph Lake. The windowscapes are magnificent. And the care and comforts afforded its retirement guests are splendid. It got to be a habit for Fr. Carey to join Fr. Schidel and me for juice or coffee and cookies in the tastefully appointed dining room in mid afternoon before taking confessions. Each time we saw each other he would ask if I had discovered anything new in my research to share with him. When I was researching Empress Eugenie&#8217s crown and had gotten as far as I could go, I took a photograph of the Empress wearing a crown with me to Holy Cross House just in case Fr. Carey knew anything about it. I could hardly believe it when he told me that he not only had heard about the missing crown but had seen it as well. I wrote about his memory of it in the Empress Eugenie chapter in my manuscript. He also shared his own Grotto stories associated with Corby Hall.

He told me about all the engagement rings left in his keeping in the Corby Hall safe (five at one time) for young Notre Dame students who planned to go to the Grotto to propose marriage to their girl friends. Fr. Carey couldn&#8217t even begin to count the number of marriages he had performed, my neighbor, a Notre Dame Alumnus, being one of them. One day at the archives I was going through a file of Religious Bulletins which were begun by Fr. John F. O&#8217Hara, C.S.C. during his time on campus. They were continued after he left by others, so it was a thick file. One of the items of interest I found that day and recorded in my manuscript was an interesting suggestion made to the students that made me smile when I read it: If your guest should be non-Catholic, to make her feel at ease introduce her to the Grotto first: That's probably where you'll go first anyway. Notre Dame Religious Bulletin October 14, 1941 Another item I ran across the same day also impressed me. It was an essay entitled: &#147Why The Fighting Irish?

It was dated March 16, 1953. I had never seen anything quite like it and was sure it must have been hidden away all those years just waiting for someone like me to rediscover it. Since it was very Irish, I knew just the person to share it with on my next visit to Holy Cross House, the very Irish Fr. Carey. He responded immediately to the twinkle in my eyes as I handed it to him expecting it to be another of my interesting discoveries about Notre Dame&#8217s early history. I told him how impressed I was with it, but that unfortunately, there was no indication of who wrote it. Anticipating a positive response from him, I was watching for his reaction and commented, &#147Now if we just knew who wrote it. A grin crept across Fr. Carey&#8217s face as he read it and there was a light in his smiling Irish eyes. As he handed it back to me he said: &#147Well, if you&#8217ve got a pen, I&#8217ll autograph it for you. Fr. Schidel had already read it before Fr.

Carey joined us and we both looked at Fr. Carey in wide-eyed wonder. What a mystifying coincidence that I would be wishing to know the author and it would turn out to be Fr. Carey himself. I still have never seen a better explanation of &#147Why the Fighting Irish? Fr. Carey said he&#8217d almost forgotten about it and he was pleased to see it again and learn that I had run across it in such a happenstance way. Now at the top of the essay is his autograph to me: &#147For Dorothy, Charles M. Carey. Fr. Carey&#8217s health began to decline just before the Holy Cross House residents were to be relocated at an off-campus facility for the lengthy renovation of their retirement home. Fr. Carey was concerned about the move because he didn&#8217t want to die away from Notre Dame the place he called home almost his entire life. Blessedly, at age ninety, just a few weeks before they were moved, Fr. Carey passed away at his beloved Notre Dame.

He was not alive when my manuscript went online on Lourdes Day 2000, but his encouragement while I was writing it and his contributions to my research will be found in its pages. He was a delightful man, admired and loved on campus by everyone who knew him. Dorothy V. Corson UND.COM :: The Official Site of Notre Dame Athletics Text The Fighting Irish Exactly where and how Notre Dame's athletic nickname, "Fighting Irish," came to origination never has been perfectly explained. One story suggests the moniker was born in 1899 with Notre Dame leading Northwestern 5-0 at halftime of a game in Evanston, Ill. The Wildcat fans supposedly began to chant, "Kill the Fighting Irish, kill the Fighting Irish," as the second half opened. Another tale has the nickname originating at halftime of the Notre Dame-Michigan game in 1909. With his team trailing, one Notre Dame player yelled to his teammates - who happened to have names like Dolan, Kelly, Glynn, Duffy and Ryan - "What's the matter with you guys?

You're all Irish and you're not fighting worth a lick." Notre Dame came back to win the game and press, after overhearing the remark, reported the game as a victory for the "Fighting Irish." The most generally accepted explanation is that the press coined the nickname as a characterization of Notre Dame athletic teams, their never-say-die fighting spirit and the Irish qualities of grit, determination and tenacity. The term likely began as an abusive expression tauntingly directed toward the athletes from the small, private, Catholic institution. Notre Dame alumnus Francis Wallace popularized it in his New York Daily News columns in the 1920s. The Notre Dame Scholastic, in a 1929 edition, printed its own version of the story: "The term 'Fighting Irish' has been applied to Notre Dame teams for years. It first attached itself years ago when the school, comparatively unknown, sent its athletic teams away to play in another city ...At that time the title 'Fighting Irish' held no glory or prestige ... "The years passed swiftly and the school began to take a place in the sports world ...'Fighting Irish' took on a new meaning.

The unknown of a few years past has boldly taken a place among the leaders. The unkind appellation became symbolic of the struggle for supremacy of the field. ...The team, while given in irony, has become our heritage. ...So truly does it represent us that we unwilling to part with it ..." Notre Dame competed under the nickname "Catholics" during the 1800s and became more widely known as the "Ramblers" during the early 1920s in the days of the Four Horsemen. University president Rev. Matthew Walsh, C.S.C., officially adopted "Fighting Irish" as the Notre Dame nickname in 1927. The origins of Notre Dame’s name - why the Fighting Irish are the Fighting Irish | IrishCentral.com The origins of Notre Dame’s name - why the Fighting Irish are the Fighting Irish BRYAN FITZGERALD / Notre Dame Fighting Irish logoGoogle Images A squat man wearing a green and yellow suit, complete with a square hat, and pointed shoes raises his arms in a fighting stance. His bushy eyebrows like his beard are fierce. He is not the type of guy you want to meet alone in an alley or alone anywhere.

As any college football fan could tell you this is the mascot of the University of Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish. But exactly are the “Fighting Irish”? How did this name come to be and Why is this mascot so angry are questions that need to be answered. The name Fighting Irish finds its origins in the Anti-Catholic sentiment facing the Irish immigrants of the early 19th century. Being that the majority of the first Irish immigrants were catholic they were congruous in the minds of the puritans at the time. The Irish faced oppression in the forms of ”Irish need not apply” signs in help wanted ads and chants of “Irish go home.” The term fighting Irish was a slur in New England during this period. The school has thus embraced this underdog status and has used it as a badge of honor to represent “everyone who suffers from discrimination; to everyone who has an uphill fight for the elemental decencies, and the basic Christian principles woven into the texture of our nation”, according to Dorothy V. Corson in her essay “ Why the Fighting Irish.

” ------------------- The top ten Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive players – VIDEOS & POLL ------------------- The University of Notre Dame was established in November 26th, 1842. Its Irish tradition grew around the college’s location. It was the first major Catholic college, founded by Holy Cross brothers, in the midwest with access to such major cities as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwuakee. To this day 80 percent of the undergrad population at the university is Catholic. Another origin of its nickname as applied to its football team established in 1887 has many theories. The school originally played under the name of the “Catholics” in the 1800s and the “Ramblers” in the 1920s. The team officially adopted its current moniker “The Fighting Irish” in 1927. The roots of its name run far deeper.

It is believed in a game in 1889 as the the Irish led the Northwestern away at halftime by the score of 5-0 the crowd got whipped in a frenzy screaming , "Kill the Fighting Irish, kill the Fighting Irish." Others cite a game in 1909 in which the Fighting Irish were losing at the half to Michigan. An incensed Notre Dame player trying to psych up his team called out some of his fellow Irish teammates. "What's the matter with you guys? You're all Irish and you're not fighting worth a lick." Notre Dame came back to win the game and the press picked up on the players feisty comments and thus dubbed the squad “The Fighting Irish”. The official reason for the name was printed in the journal The Notre Dame Scholastic in 1929 : "The term 'Fighting Irish' has been applied to Notre Dame teams for years. It first attached itself years ago when the school, comparatively unknown, sent its athletic teams away to play in another city ...At that time the title 'Fighting Irish' held no glory or prestige ...

------------------- 40 Years of College Football's Sexual-Assault Problem | Mother Jones 40 Years of College Football's Sexual-Assault Problem Should Trump be investigated? Hell Yes . 40 Years of College Football's Sexual-Assault Problem The case of FSU's Jameis Winston highlights a long and ugly history of universities dropping the ball on rape allegations. Tim Murphy Dec. 5, 2013 6:00 AM Email Eve Edelheit/Tampa Bay Times /Zuma Update: ESPN is reporting that Jameis Winston will not be charged in connection to an alleged sexual assault last December. In November, TMZ reported that a former Florida State University student had accused the school's quarterback, Jameis Winston, of rape nearly a year ago. The accuser's lawyer says that after she came forward the Tallahassee police tried to dissuade her from pressing charges, warning her that the city is "a big football town" that might not treat her warmly if she leveled these allegations. Indeed, since her charges became public, some Seminoles fans have floated conspiracy theories that a rival school or Heisman Trophy contender may have put the accuser up to it.

Prosecutors, for their part, will hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon to announce whether they'll go forward with the case. Ultimately, Winston—whose DNA was found at the scene and who claims the sex was consensual—may not be charged. But the case has highlighted a disturbing and long-standing pattern in college football. At top football schools the sport is a major moneymaker, and many big-name universities (and law enforcement authorities in those jurisdictions) have too often shielded players accused of rape—even going so far as to smear and punish victims who speak out. Here's a brief guide to college football's sordid history of addressing sexual assault: University of Notre Dame, 1974: An undergraduate accused six Fighting Irish players of rape. A university administrator called the woman, who later spent a month in psychiatric care, a "queen of the slums with a mattress tied to her back." No charges were filed. Notre Dame, 1976: Two of the Notre Dame players accused in 1974, along with one other player, were accused of rape by a 17-year-old student.

"I was told to shut up and mind my own business," a witness to the assault later told the National Catholic Reporter's Melinda Henneberger. The witness, a resident advisor at nearby St. Mary's College, had been informed by administrators that one of the players had been involved in another unreported rape, in addition to the previous 1974 incident. No charges were filed. University of Colorado, 1989: Twenty-four Buffaloes were arrested in a three-year span under coach Bill McCartney for everything from rape to illegally skinning a rabbit. Another former player, linebacker Miles Kusayanagi, was accused of being "the Duct-Tape Rapist," responsible for eight sexual assaults in Boulder. (He was convicted on four counts of first-degree sexual assault.) McCartney told a local news reporter that another alleged rape by one of his players couldn't have been rape because it wasn't violent enough. Besides, he told Sports Illustrated, it could be worse: "You'll notice that we haven't had anybody shoot anybody." University of Oklahoma, 1989: Three players were arrested and two convicted of raping a female student in a dorm room.

Nigel Clay, one of the two players convicted of rape, told the Los Angeles Times in 1992: "Well, speaking for myself and a lot of other people, we felt like we were above the law…like OU would protect us from anything." Head coach Barry Switzer resigned, but was hired six years later as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. University of Nebraska, 1993: Defensive lineman Christian Peter's punishment for being convicted of third-degree sexual assault? He was put on probation and missed one exhibition game. Peter, a future NFL draft pick, was accused by two other women of sexual assault during his time on campus and arrested a total of eight times for a range of offenses. Kathy Redmond, one of Peter's accusers, received threatening phone calls and had her car vandalized for reporting the assault. (Peter's teammate, Lawrence Phillips, was suspended for physically assaulting his girlfriend, but was reinstated by Cornhuskers head coach Tom Osborne in time to play in the 1995 national title game.) Osborne went on to serve three terms in Congress. Peter was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Florida State, 1994: Kicker Scott Bentley was sentenced to 40 hours of community service for illegally recording a woman having sex. "This should serve as a clear message to our football players that this behavior and mistreatment of women will not be tolerated," said head coach Bobby Bowden, upon announcing that Bentley would be suspended for the summer but keep his scholarship and miss no games. Within a two-week period that spring, a Seminoles running back was accused of exposing himself to a woman while walking across campus, and a tight end was charged with rape (for which he was acquitted). Virginia Tech, 1994: Freshman Christy Brzonkala ran into a wall of obstruction when she told administrators she had been raped by two Virginia Tech football players. The school, which was investigating her claims, dropped charges against one player after he threatened to sue because the school's code of conduct did not explicitly forbid sexual assault. His only penalty was a "one-hour educational session"—with the accuser. The other player was suspended for a year—only to have the suspension dropped before football season started. A campus spokeswoman publicly chided Brzonkala (who transferred) for coming forward six months after the incident.

She sued the school under the Violence Against Women Act, only to see the relevant portion of the law struck down in federal court. Idaho State University, 1995: Four Bengals football players were sentenced to community service and one-year of probation for statutory rape. Appalachian State University, 1997: A female student alleged she had been raped by six football players, but the school's judicial board downgraded their offenses to " lewd conduct ." One player was suspended from school; one was cleared; and the rest were placed on probation, allowing them to eventually return to the football team. ASU Chancellor Francis Borkowski's message to students that year: "If you are not in control of your life through indulgence in alcohol and drugs, then you are setting yourself up." Colorado, 1997: No charges were filed by Boulder police after a woman alleged she was raped by a football recruit at a party, because witnesses were deemed too inebriated to be trustworthy.

Boulder district attorney Mary Keenan later told the New York Times the incident was a consequence of ''an ugly football subculture.'' Louisiana State University, 1998: Star running back Cecil Collins was dismissed from the team after being accused of two sexual assaults in two weeks (the first was of a minor). He was sentenced to probation. That didn't stop another football program, McNeese State, from offering him a full scholarship, or the Miami Dolphins from drafting him. "Charming and likable, he has, nonetheless, seen his collegiate football career derailed by sexual assault charges and failed drug tests," the Sun-Sentinel reported in 1999. His career ended in 2001, when he was convicted of breaking into a woman's home to watch her sleep. Oklahoma State University, 1999: Stillwater police asked a female student who accused four football players of rape to immediately sign a form stating that she would not press charges—just hours after coming forward. She filed a federal lawsuit two years later, eventually settling with the players, two of whom went on to play in the NFL.

United States Naval Academy, 2000: Three football players were accused of raping a female midshipman who passed out at an off-campus party. They avoided prosecution in exchange for leaving the academy. University of Florida, 2000: Offensive line recruit Jason Respert was accused of breaking into a female student's bedroom and sexually assaulting her, but the charges were reduced to trespassing and simple battery. He did 40 hours of community service and went on to accept a full scholarship at the University of Tennessee. Colorado, 2001: A female student alleged she was raped repeatedly by Buffaloes football players at an off-campus party for recruits. "It certainly is not the best timing," said a school vice president, noting that the team was trying to prepare for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Others blamed the victim. "There is also no question in my mind that the behavior of the 10 young people involved was the result of their own poor decisions under the influence of alcohol," head coach Gary Barnett said later —alluding to not just the football players and their recruits, but the three alleged victims.

University of Washington, 2001: After accusing a Huskies star of rape, university officials suggested that a female student sit down for one-on-one mediation with her alleged rapist instead of calling the cops. Although a jury later ruled in the school's favor three years later, its members had harsh words for school administrators in interviews with the Seattle Times . "When asked Thursday how the UW handled the case, one juror said: 'You want a quote? Piss poorly.'" Notre Dame, 2002: A female student alleged that she was raped by three football players and one former member of the team. All were eventually expelled, but not before the school tried to dissuade the victim from pressing charges and prevented her from receiving counseling, according to the National Catholic Reporter. Safety Abram Elam , who served no prison time after being convicted of sexual battery, later enrolled at Kent State and went on to a seven-year career in the NFL. Colorado, 2004: After former kicker Katie Hnida told Sports Illustrated she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by teammates, head coach Gary Barnett said she was sore about her shortcomings as a football player: "It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful.

You know what guys do? They respect your ability. You can be 90 years old, but if you can go out and play, they'll respect you. Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it. She couldn't kick the ball through the uprights." In another incident, a female student told police that Barnett threatened to support his player "100 percent" if she came forward with her rape allegation. Barnett was briefly suspended, but returned to the team for another season. He was fired at the end of the 2005 season—for ending the season on a three-game losing streak. He took a $3 million buyout. Brigham Young University, 2004: Four players were indicted and two players sent to trial in the gang rape of a fellow student. Although a teammate testified against them at the trial, the players were acquitted. In The System: The Glory and Scandal of College Football , Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian offered one reason why: "After the courtroom cleared out, three jurors were still around. Kelly [the prosecuting attorney] cornered them and asked why they had acquitted.

'The jury said they had suffered enough,' Kelly said. 'They lost their scholarships. They were kicked off the team.' Kelly said it was the most bizarre thing she'd ever heard—the idea that the players had been sufficiently punished when they lost their opportunity to play football. 'That's the power of college football,' she said." Arizona State University, 2004: A female student working as a tutor for a summer program for football students sent an email to her supervisors about a freshman recruit: "I don't want to get raped in college and that is what Darnel [Henderson] makes me feel like when he is around me." By the end of the summer, ESPN reported , Henderson had been accused of sexually assaulting women in his dorm and exposing himself to female staffers. When confronted, his response was to tell a staff member that he felt he had to "show [women] their place." The university's response was to bow to head coach Dirk Koetter's request that Henderson keep his scholarship. When Henderson was accused of rape by a different student a year later, ASU police mysteriously waited three weeks to interview him despite deciding internally that Henderson was probably guilty.

A university administrator accompanied Henderson to his meeting with investigators, and when the case was submitted to Maricopa County, the district attorney declined to pursue the case. ASU administrators, meanwhile, tried to destroy incriminating evidence—like the fearful email. Koetter, who sought to get Henderson a scholarship to another top-tier college football program, was fired two years later because he couldn't consistently beat top-25 opponents. University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, 2005: Six Mocs football players were charged with raping a student. But head coach Rodney Allison let the players take the field against West Carolina University before informing Chancellor Roger Brown the players would be suspended. Brown said he was told the players had broken curfew. The charges were eventually thrown out . University of Montana, 2010: Public records revealed that top administrators sought to cover up allegations that four football players had raped a female student. Vice President James Foley tried to punish the accuser under the school's code of conduct and instructed colleagues to refer to the incident as a "date rape" instead of a "gang rape." In separate incidents, a star quarterback and running back were both accused of rape.

(The running back was later convicted; the quarterback continued practicing with the team after being charged, but was found not guilty .*) Athletic Director Jim O'Day showed reporters photos of a woman who had been bit by a star cornerback accused of sexual assault in an attempt to show them that it wasn't that bad. He was ultimately terminated with a full year's pay. Notre Dame, 2010 : "Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea," a friend of a football player texted Lizzy Seeberg, after she accused a Fighting Irish player of rape. Shortly thereafter, Seeberg took her life. The university president refused to meet with Seeberg's family after her death and school officials tried to smear her in the press. Another woman, who was taken to the hospital for a rape exam later that year, declined to file a complaint after receiving threatening texts from Notre Dame players. Head coach Brian Kelly, who chided a Chicago reporter for covering the story, took the team—and the two accused assailants—to the national championship game.

Notre Dame football represented well on Maxwell Award watch list Comment Notre Dame football is looking for a strong showing in 2016, and quarterbacks Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer highlight the start of the preseason watch lists for the Irish. College football is still almost two months away from officially kicking off, but Tuesday marked one of the first steps in the buildup to the actual season with the release of the Maxwell Award watch list . All the names you’d expect to be there were present: Deshaun Watson , Christian McCaffery, Dalvin Cook , Baker Mayfield and Leonard Fournette , to name a few. But there were some surprises as well, with the biggest one being the presence of both Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer. Zaire and Kizer are currently locked in a battle for Notre Dame’s starting QB job, as the Irish broke from spring camp without either player seeming to have a real edge. Zaire is older and has shown flashes of brilliance while on the field, but Kizer took on the starting job early last season when Zaire was injured and led the Irish to a Fiesta Bowl berth.

The Maxwell Award, considered one of the most prestigious honors in college ball, is awarded to the best player in the country. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has been cagey, to the say the least, about whether Zaire or Kizer will be under center in 2016, so the Maxwell Committee hedged its bet and threw both on the watch list. No other program has two signal callers on the list. A Notre Dame fan may be tempted to see Tuesday’s announcement as confirmation that no matter who starts at QB for the Irish in 2016, he’ll be one of the best players in the country. And to a certain extent, that’s probably true. Both Zaire and Kizer are talented players with a whole lot of potential. Whoever does start will likely be catapulted into the Heisman (and, by extension, the Maxwell) discussion. However, a bit of context should throw some cold water on Domers’ dreams of the best player in college football playing quarterback for the Irish. The Maxwell watch list is 90 players long and 17 other programs have two players on it.* Clemson and Baylor have three each.

To a certain extent, this list is less a group of potential best players in the country and more a collection of very good ones. No one actually believes Jake Butt will be the best college football player in the nation. More from Notre Dame Fighting Irish 10/11 - Notre Dame Football: 5 potential replacements for Brian Kelly Something tells me the Maxwell committee was stretching to fill 90 slots with players who could, with at least a shred of integrity, be called contenders for the best player in the FBS. So rather than choose one or the other, they put Zaire and Kizer on the list, even though one might not play a down this season. All of this serves to highlight just how ridiculous watch lists can be. Any program that had a player named to the Maxwell Award list tweeted about it and made it sound as though they have one of the nation’s absolute top players. They don’t though; they have a player or two who could be good. The sheer number of names, combined with how early in the summer it is, before any team has gathered for preseason camp, lessens the honor that might come from being named to such a list. What’s In A Name?

How Notre Dame became the Fighting Irish // University of Notre Dame Irish freedom fighter Eamon de Valera speaks to the crowd at Boston's Fenway Park in 1919. What’s In A Name?How Notre Dame became the Fighting Irish When Irish freedom fighter Éamon de Valera came to America in 1919 to gather money and hearts to his cause, the first stop was Boston’s Fenway Park, where a political rally of nearly 60,000 people still holds the venerable stadium’s all-time attendance record. Nearly a century later, when the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame descend on Fenway Park this weekend, some people may well ask how a university founded in a northern Indiana wilderness by a French priest came by its nickname. Surprisingly, one theory traces back to the visit from de Valera, who had been part of the 1916 Easter Rising and was imprisoned and sentenced to death. He was given amnesty, elected to Parliament and arrested by the English again. He escaped and slipped off to America to avoid recapture. Barnstorming the country, the future president of Ireland was welcomed as a hero at Notre Dame on October 15, 1919.

Accounts in Scholastic, a student publication, indicate that his visit tilted campus opinion in favor of the “Fighting Irish” moniker — though not completely. De Valera planted a “tree of liberty” as a memorial of his visit — only to have it uprooted a week later and thrown in one of the campus lakes by a student “of Unionist persuasion.” That’s one story anyway. Actually, no one really knows for sure how Notre Dame became universally linked with the Irish. All we have is conjecture. But that’s the Irish way, isn’t it? Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. It’s true that four of the six religious who founded Notre Dame in 1842 with French priest Edward Sorin were Irish; that nearly all of Fr. Sorin’s successors claim Irish descent; and that the student body has always had a strong Irish presence. The Fighting Irish nickname was first coined for the Irish immigrant soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War in what became called the Irish Brigade, including three regiments from New York. Their valor was later memorialized in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer.

That’s also the Irish way: Ireland’s poetry is often better than its fighting, turning defeat into eternal glory. The University has a valid claim to the nickname because the brigade’s beloved chaplain was Rev. William Corby, C.S.C., who later became the third president of Notre Dame. Fr. Corby giving general absolution to the Irish Brigade before the Battle of Gettysburg. This painting was completed in 1891 by Paul Wood, a Notre Dame student at the time. The 1909 Notre Dame football team The first use of the nickname “Fighting Irish” for Notre Dame sports teams may have been in 1909, when legend says that a player’s speech at the halftime of a football game against Michigan inspired a furious comeback. He reportedly yelled to his teammates — with names like Dolan, Kelly, Glynn and Ryan: “What’s the matter with you guys? You’re all Irish and you’re not fighting worth a lick.” The news reports that picked up the story attributed the victory to the Fighting Irishmen. According to historian and author Murray Sperber, the most widely accepted explanation of how the nickname settled on Notre Dame sports teams is more gradual but still dramatic.

During the 1910s and 1920s, stereotypes and ethnic slurs were openly expressed against immigrants, Catholics and the Irish. The press often referred to Notre Dame teams as the Catholics — or worse, the Papists or Dirty Irish — because the school was largely populated by ethnic Catholic immigrants, many of them Irish. University leaders bristled at such descriptions, and school publications called the team the Gold and Blue or the Notre Damers. Mass celebrated by the Notre Dame football team on the road This was also the Knute Rockne era, when the Notre Dame football team first put the small private school on the national map. Rockne’s teams were often called the Rovers or the Ramblers because they traveled far and wide, an uncommon practice before the advent of commercial airplanes. These names were also an insult to the school, meant to suggest it was more focused on football than academics. Rockne may have been Norwegian, but he had the Irish flair for storytelling and drama. A natural salesman, he hired student press agents to tell the team’s story. Some of them began using the “Fighting Irish” nickname to characterize the underdog tenacity of his teams.

They found a way to turn the derisive taunt, with its suggestion of drunken brawling, into an expression of triumph. Some students came to cherish the nickname. By owning the epithet, they transformed it into a symbol of pride. In the 1960s, the same process would be repeated for the leprechaun, which had traditionally been an English caricature of the Irish. Now, it’s the team mascot. Still, the nickname “Fighting Irish” was embraced by some and opposed by others by the time de Valera visited Fenway and Notre Dame. In a 1919 Scholastic issue, a letter appeared from an alumnus who criticized the nickname because many players were not of Irish descent. Others rushed to defend the phrase, with one alum writing, “You don’t have to be from Ireland to be Irish!” In the early 1920s, the press began to pick up the “Fighting Irish” nickname to characterize the never-say-die spirit of Rockne’s teams. One of Rockne’s former press agents, Francis Wallace, popularized the term when he became a columnist for the New York Daily News.

Knute Rockne buying a copy of Collier’s, for which he wrote a series of articles in 1930 A little-known event occurring in 1924 may have inadvertently contributed to Fighting Irish lore. In a recent book, alumnus Todd Tucker describes how Notre Dame students violently clashed with the anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan in that year. A weekend of riots drove the Klan out of South Bend and helped bring an end to its rising power in Indiana at a time when the state’s governor was among its members. Finally in 1927, university president Rev. Matthew Walsh, C.S.C., decided that the “Fighting Irish” was preferable to the school’s more derisive nicknames. He said in a statement, “The university authorities are in no way averse to the name ‘Fighting Irish’ as applied to our athletic teams… I sincerely hope that we may always be worthy of the ideal embodied in the term ‘Fighting Irish.’” Today, Notre Dame has the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, with distinguished scholars of Irish language, literature, history and society.

Notre Dame has an international study program in Ireland, and the campus is the largest center for the study of the Irish language outside Dublin. Above all, Notre Dame was shaped, and is still influenced, by the resiliency and deep thirst for learning of the Irish people. That ideal was eloquently described by Ireland’s President Mary McAleese at Notre Dame’s Commencement in 2006: "The language you use here, the ‘Fighting Irish’ … what we actually mean mostly when we talk about it is an indomitable spirit, a commitment, never tentative, always fully committed, to life itself … that's really the spirit of the Fighting Irish." Produced by the Office of Public Affairs and Communications Author: Brendan O'Shaughnessy "The Original Fighting Irish" // News // The Daily Domer // University of Notre Dame By Michael Rodio | Dec. 5, 2012 | The Daily Domer "The Original Fighting Irish" by artist, entrepreneur, and filmmaker Revere La Noue '99. Revere La Noue ’99 wasn’t sure why, but something compelled him away from the TV set and to his drawing board.

An award-winning professional artist who played lacrosse at Notre Dame, La Noue had just finished watching his Fighting Irish lose to their longtime gridiron rival, the U.S. Naval Academy, for the first time in 44 years. As La Noue started sketching on that November evening, the game’s final images washed over him. After three overtimes, both teams stood in opposite corners of the still-full Notre Dame Stadium, singing along as each band played their alma maters for thousands of fans in the stands. It was a show of sportsmanship and respect – and a sign of something greater than the game. “After watching that game, I began thinking about how special the Notre Dame traditions are,” La Noue says. “Like the service academies, the passion for Notre Dame is truly national… So what do we all have in common? That’s one of the questions that got me started making sketches for this piece.” From those first sketches, La Noue crafted a painting he called “The Original Fighting Irish.” There are no football players on the canvas. No Gipper, no Rockne.

Instead, “The Original Fighting Irish” portrays a band of working-class toughs, standing shoulder to shoulder in a united front of muscle and determination. “The piece is both a scene, thousands of tough immigrant men defending a green flag, and a metaphor for an attitude, a conviction, and a sense of honor that I see equally in men and women,” La Noue says. In a sense, the painting’s most striking features are actually the features that aren’t there: faces. La Noue creates immense detail in the landscape – the emerald flag snapping overhead, the glowing sun’s Celtic designs – but the men and women in the painting have no identifying facial features. There is a priest among them, recognizable from his white Roman collar and black vestments, but even he is a faceless, nameless figure. This is why Brian Kelly decided to hang “The Original Fighting Irish” in his office. “I met Coach Kelly in his office in the spring of 2010,” La Noue says. “Of course he hadn’t coached a game at Notre Dame yet… We talked about what makes Notre Dame a special place and what it meant to play for the Fighting Irish.

We talked about the need to stoke the spirit of grit and toughness.” Before La Noue left Kelly’s office, he gave the new coach a print of the painting. “You never know what a football coach will say about a piece of art,” La Noue says, “but he looked at it and said, ‘I get it, this is it, this is exactly it.’” As Kelly took up Notre Dame’s tradition-rich legacy, he decided to rebuild the program on a foundation as strong and unyielding as the nameless immigrants who first built the little Catholic university into a symbol of pride and resilience. And even though “The Original Fighting Irish” is resplendent with Irish tricolor's green and orange, the people in his painting aren’t even necessarily Irish. They could be, say, Hawaiian. “I love it when a play happens and everyone who touches the ball is from a different part of the United States,” La Noue says. “I love when a quarterback from South Carolina fakes the handoff to a running back from New Jersey and passes to a receiver from Hawaii.

For me, that represents a common set of values.” After winning the 2010 National Championship, Notre Dame's women's soccer team posed in the style of La Noue's now-iconic painting. In Kelly’s office, La Noue’s painting became a blueprint for success. As Kelly steered the modern-day Fighting Irish through his first two seasons, he and his staff consistently emphasized the core Notre Dame spirit that resonates in La Noue’s painting. The Original Fighting Irish have their sleeves rolled up, a reminder that no success can exist without flinty toughness and plain hard work. “Next man in,” the faceless workers seem to say, echoing one of Kelly’s favorite refrains. Even during Kelly’s third season, the Fighting Irish have gone undefeated in a style akin to whatever manual labor La Noue’s tough guys are doing. Game after game, Notre Dame won with tough line play and tenacious running reminiscent of a bulldozer. Players have started toting a well-worn sledgehammer on the sideline. Short of trading their iconic gold helmets for hardhats, the 2012 Fighting Irish couldn’t embrace their hardworking roots any better.

So while “The Original Fighting Irish” may be illustrative of the team’s success and of Kelly’s style, the painting is also emblematic of the university as a whole and its underdog spirit. And even though the Irish faithful are now riding a wave of excitement before the BCS National Championship, La Noue is quick to point out that the Notre Dame spirit will always transcend mere touchdowns or tackles. “Don’t see the National Championship as the ultimate end,” La Noue cautions. “Notre Dame is generations deep. It’s alumni, it’s students, it’s fans, it’s subway alumni. It’s not a statistics thing, it’s a character thing. It’s working because the kids are having fun and playing hard.” Ultimately, La Noue’s painting is more than a blueprint. It’s a reminder of art’s power to convey an ethic of respect, a ritual of identity, and a ceremony that unites a family. It’s also a call to action. “We should welcome everyone who respects the great contributions immigrants have made to this country and values a hardworking, unglamorous pursuit of a dream,” La Noue says.

“The piece isn’t about the success of the team, it’s about the ethic that binds us together.” Some might call it the spirit of Notre Dame. Notre Dame Fighting Irish investigating possible academic fraud comment SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Four Notre Dame players, including two starters, will not be allowed to participate in football activities as the university continues an internal investigation into academic misconduct, the school announced Friday. Notre Dame said in a statement that there was "evidence that students had submitted papers and homework that had been written for them by others." That evidence was reported to the athletics compliance office on July 29, and an immediate investigation was launched. The NCAA was notified Friday. The group of players includes KeiVarae Russell , the team's best cornerback, leading returning receiver DaVaris Daniels , and defensive end Ishaq Williams , expected to be a key contributor on the line. Backup linebacker Kendall Moore is also being held out of practice during the investigation. All four players were part of Notre Dame's 2012 team, which lost in the BCS national title game to Alabama. Daniels and Russell were starters on that team. Williams was projected to start this year, as well.

DaVaris Daniels started on the 2012 Notre Dame team that went to the BCS national title game. Matt Cashore/USA TODAY Sports Williams and Moore are seniors this season, while Daniels and Russell are juniors. The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 17 in the preseason USA Today/Coaches poll. A source told ESPN that the four players did not practice Friday. The Fighting Irish are now facing the possibility that a second straight season could be affected by academic misconduct issues. Last year, quarterback Everett Golson missed the season after being suspended from school for what he called poor academic judgment. The Irish finished 9-4 behind Tommy Rees, but coming off an appearance in the BCS title game in 2012 it was a step back. Golson is back, but now coach Brian Kelly could be scrambling to fill holes before opening his fifth season in South Bend at home against Rice on Aug. 30. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Kelly was "devastated" by the news. The Rev. John Jenkins, the university president, and Swarbrick expressed support for Kelly. "We have great confidence in Brian and his staff," Jenkins said.

"They have been nothing but supportive." Jenkins said Notre Dame has notified the NCAA about the inquiry. Because of potential violations, the four players can't compete until the conclusion of the investigation and the university honor code process. Jenkins said during a news conference that no student has been judged responsible for "academic dishonesty." "Nobody has been dismissed," Jenkins said. Jenkins would not speculate when asked how far back the misconduct could have taken place. "Integrity is at the heart of our mission, and academic misconduct will not be tolerated at Notre Dame," Jenkins said. "If the suspected improprieties are proven, we will use the experience to reinforce among our students the importance of honesty in all that they do. "We are also examining ways of better conveying to students that they can avail themselves of legitimate academic assistance without resorting to cheating." Jenkins said there is no timetable about how long the investigation will take. "We will take as long as it takes to have a thorough and fair investigation and proceed through our academic honor code process." He said such investigations at Notre Dame aren't common "but it happens." The university also is investigating if other students are involved. Jenkins said it was too early to say if the four players acted together.

Jenkins said if it is found they violated the school's honor code the penalties could range from an F on an assignment, to an F in the course to dismissal from school. The penalty would be decided by an honor committee. Swarbrick said the players have not been suspended. He said they remain grant-in-aid students and have access to athletic facilities and resources. Jenkins said evidence students had submitted papers and homework that had been written for them by others was initially detected at the end of the summer session. The case was then referred to the compliance office on July 29. Jenkins said he didn't want to speculate on possible NCAA punishment, while Swarbrick said the NCAA usually defers to a university when it comes to academic integrity. "There are a few narrow instances where that triggers an NCAA concern, but I must stress we have no evidence of most of those here. No involvement by a member of the coaching staff, no transcript impropriety, those sorts of things," he said. "If it has NCAA consequences, we'll let them know." The investigation is the latest in a series for the Irish in the past 15 months involving academics, starting with Golson.

Jerian Grant, the leading scorer on the basketball team at the time, was suspended in December for the spring semester for an academic violation. Daniels was suspended two weeks later for the spring semester and was recently reinstated. Swarbrick said the previous cases were different. "Let's not confuse academic probation where you don't make grades in a semester with academic dishonesty. They are very different things," he said. Jenkins said he believes it shows Notre Dame's honor system is doing its job. "At any university you're dealing with young people. The vast majority of them make good decisions. But young people sometimes make bad decisions," he said. "Our job is to hold them accountable and to use those incidents as ways to educate them. That's what we're doing." Information from ESPN.com's Matt Fortuna, Brett McMurphy and Joe Schad and The Associated Press was used in this report.

College Basketball 2014-15: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Team Preview College Basketball 2014-15: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Team Preview College Basketball 2014-15: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Team Preview By Athlon Sports , 10/22/14, 7:00 AM EDT Jerian Grant's return should boost Notre Dame's hopes After compiling a 38–16 record in its last three seasons in the Big East, Notre Dame had a rocky initial foray into the ACC. A conference-opening victory over Duke quickly spiraled into a 6–12 league record, due in large part to an inconsistent defensive effort, the inability to control the backboards without the graduated Jack Cooley and the loss of Jerian Grant to “an academic issue” in December. Head coach Mike Brey, who likes to rely on older players to carry the load, was forced to play young, which should benefit the Irish in 2014-15. “The young guys played too much for how this program is built,” says Brey, who begins his 15th season with the Irish. “We racked our brains with changing personnel to changing style of play.

We simplified our offense, and that made us more efficient the second half of the ACC season. We bled while they were playing, but it will help them be better prepared this season.” The Notre Dame edition is one of dozens available in our online store and on newsstands everywhere now. Frontcourt The Irish will miss Garrick Sherman’s 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, but the bulk of the talent returns up front. Pat Connaughton, a 6-5 leaper, was a fourth-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in the June amateur baseball draft, but he will return to Notre Dame for his final season of basketball. Connaughton averaged 13.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season, and Brey calls him the team’s “only real, true captain.” Notre Dame needs 6-10 junior Zach Auguste to emerge as a consistent presence. And 6-9 junior Austin Burgett must become the “stretch-4” player who has thrived in Brey’s free-flowing offensive system in the past. Burgett was just beginning to emerge last season when heart issues, which were corrected by a surgical procedure, derailed his progress.

Auguste and Burgett will be aided by sophomore V.J. Beachem, a willowy swingman who showed flashes of shooting prowess as a freshman. Bruising 6-9 freshman Martin Geben, originally from Lithuania, will push Auguste. Geben draws favorable comparisons to Cooley, a former first-team All-Big East selection. Bonzie Colson, also a freshman, is a physical 6-5 forward with shooting range and a 7-footer’s wingspan. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Facts & Figures Last season: 15-17, 6-12 ACC Postseason: None Coach: Mike Brey (300-159 at Notre Dame, 141-88 Big East/ACC) ACC Projection: Ninth Postseason Projection: NCAA Round of 64 Backcourt The loss of the stabilizing presence of point guard Eric Atkins is significant, but athleticism abounds with the return of Grant and additional playing time for sophomore point Demetrius Jackson, a former McDonald’s All-American.

The 6-5 Grant was playing outstanding basketball through 12 games last season, leading the Irish in scoring (19.0 ppg) and assists (6.2 apg) while shooting over 50 percent from the field and over 40 percent from three. “(Grant’s) stats when he left us were the best of his career, and he was a focused defender for the first time,” Brey says. “I fully expect him to pick up there and have an added chip on his shoulder to show people he’s back.” Jackson started 15 games but never found the consistency he’ll need to show as a full-time player. Brey would like to see Jackson take on a more assertive approach. Sophomore Steve Vasturia could get the starting nod over Jackson following his strong rookie season. “In the midst of a year that was disappointing as a team, (Vasturia) had a great year,” Brey says. “He’s reliable. He may be our best perimeter defender.” Final Analysis Expectations for the Irish in Year 2 of the ACC will be low, which is a starting point from which Notre Dame thrived at times in the Big East.

Brey believes he has two of the top 15 players in the league in Grant and Connaughton, but they’ll need unproven, inconsistent players from 2013-14 such as Auguste, Burgett, Beachem and Jackson to patch the holes from a year ago, plus contributions from freshmen Geben and Colson. If that happens, Notre Dame could push for an upper division finish. At the very least, a .500 mark in conference play is a reasonable goal. “It’s very similar to when I got the job (at Notre Dame) in 2000,” Brey says. “At the time, Notre Dame was 30 games under .500 in the Big East, and the question was, ‘Can you develop an identity in the Big East?’ That’s where we are now. We’re fighting and scratching to create an identity in this league, and it ain’t going to be easy.” Newcomers Martin Geben, a 6-9, 230-pounder from Hagerstown, Md., via Lithuania, is expected to push for heavy minutes as a true freshman. “He will be needed and he will be ready,” Brey says.

“He’s a great position defender and rebounder.” Bonzie Colson is a small forward who also had offers form UConn and Pittsburgh.

Question: What University's athletes are called the Fighting Irish?
Answer: Notre Dame