Fr. Hesburgh and college athletics
- Thread starter IrishHerb
- Start date
IrishHerb, thank you for posting that. I enjoyed that very much. It's funny in a way. We all here on this and other message boards love ND football. We all want a national championship every year even though we know it's not reality. Yet after reading all that, you understand why Notre Dame is exceptional. Fr. Hesburgh had a philosophy on athletics and academics. Each had its place. He truly felt that it could go hand in hand and that you do not sacrifice one or the other. Excellence in everything. That was and is the goal at Notre Dame. So even though the Irish have not reached the summit in footbal for a long time, it is worth noting that they will never sell out just to win. One day, soon I believe, they will win another national championship and remain top academically in doing so. As a lifelong fan, I wouldn't want them to do it any other way.
Some of the figures contained in that piece are incredible: More than 99 percent of the football players who spent four years at ND between the early 50s and early 80s graduated. That's probably better than the general student population.
