17 Nov 1979, Notre Dame Redux...(long)

Apr 18, 2013, 12:31 PM

I was excited to discover the Tigers were playing in South Bend. We were living in Eastern Iowa and a quick look at the map showed only the skinny part of Illinois and half of Indiana between us and the Golden Dome. My nine year old son and I headed out early on that chilly Saturday morning, hitting I-80 and bearing down eastward in our 1972 oxidized green Datsun pickup. Just a father and son, two guys, going to a football game. The only school colors we possessed was in the form of two knit caps with "Clemson Tigers" emblazoned in white against burnt orange. We ran into logjam road construction south of Chicago, panicked, and turned onto the old road toward Indiana. Picking our way through the countryside, our excitement mounted as we neared South Bend, but so did our apprehension: Could we find tickets? Could we afford them? Would we be better off waiting until after we obtained tickets to display our colors? So many questions as the tension tightened!

"God takes care of fools and little children", and so it was. After parking, we walked straight toward the stadium with no clue for the best places to scalp, when a Domer approached us holding two tickets. "How much?", I asked. "Ten bucks", he countered. With one motion we exchanged and were swept into the arena, 50 yard line, ten rows up.

Clemson did not score in the first half, but only gave up ten points, the only ten they allowed all day. The Tigers kicked and ran for 16 in the second half and the defense locked the Irish down and threw away the key. Somewhere near the middle of the third quarter we pulled out the orange caps. Cowards, you say? There was one helluva lot of green surrounding us, and me with only a nine year old.

After the game, we bought a hamburger and filled the Datsun up with $.85/gallon gas and drove back toward Iowa on I-80. By this time, the traffic below Chicago had cleared. We replayed the game over and over in our conversation until, at last, the boy fell asleep leaving me to drive the final 150 miles alone in the dark.

Nearly 34 years later, that journey has become epic. There were other games we attended as circumstances allowed, many with his siblings and mostly at Death Valley. But that day in South Bend, two guys just going to a football game turned out to be something much greater. Looking forward to 2015. Go Tigers!

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We drove up in 3 or 4 vans, complete with members, suitcases, helium tanks and balloons. Went and saw the Eagles in the ACC on Friday night...great show. Tim Bourett helped get me tickets. Went to the game early on Saturday to get set-up to blow up balloons, plus paint tiger paws on faces.

We had so many ND fans come up to us to try to buy a balloon or our Tiger Rags, even to get their faces painted. They had never had another school come there and do what we were doing.

After the game, we were walking back to our vans and we had so many ND fans offering us food and/or drink...definitely the nicest fans I had ever seen, especially after a loss. I hope that I get a chance to go back there when we play them.

17 Nov 1979, Notre Dame Redux...(long)

Awesome post! I was there too

Re: Awesome post! I was there too

Re: 17 Nov 1979, Notre Dame Redux...(long)

Great post and story! Well written

That is such a cool story

Hey RockyMtnTiger...I just wrote same 9 yr old son story too

Didn't make the trip but watched the game....

Re: Didn't make the trip but watched the game....

Did the radio broadcast with Jim.***

Re: 17 Nov 1979, Notre Dame Redux...(long)

I was there with Central Spirit...

You are safe

Had to tag a long on your post. Was living in Colorado

I remember

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