Notre Dame Football Helmets Will Honor Ara Parseghian in ’17

Prior to coaching at Notre Dame he was head coach at Northwestern and Miami (Ohio) and later became a college football television analyst.

Notre Dame helmets will simply say “ARA” across the middle of the helmet replacing the traditional “IRISH” that is normally in that place.

Parseghian led The Fighting Irish back to prominence in the 60s and 70’s, winning national titles in 1966 and 1973. He continued to demonstrate that leadership by raising millions of research dollars seeking a cure for the bad disease that took the lives of three of his grandchildren.

There is no way to singularly define Parseghian, but to categorize him in an athletic sense – and he was a spectacular athlete in his own right, as well as a tremendous coach – doesn’t do Parseghian’s life justice. He also led Notre Dame to an 11-0 record and another national title in 1973.

“… The monies that we’ve been able to raise and funnel into research have been very beneficial”, Parseghian told the South Bend Tribune a year ago.

“I’ll forever cherish the hand-written letters of encouragement, wisdom and advice that he’s sent throughout my tenure at Notre Dame”, Kelly said. But two years later marked an epic and fitting ending to a Hall of Fame career.

The team Parseghian took over had gone 0-8-1 the previous season, but he immediately improved them to 4-4-1 in his first year and by his third year had Northwestern ranked in the Top 20 of the coaches’ poll.

In 1980, Parseghian was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

The Akron, Ohio, product and Miami of Ohio graduate (he played for Woody Hayes, who went on to do great things at Ohio State) took over a 2-7 Irish squad when he was named to the job in December 1963.

By then, the pressure of coaching Notre Dame had begun to grind him down. (1944 interim coach Edward McKeever was not Catholic, as well.) They anxious about securing the coach who had made besting the Irish a routine. “Until shortly before his death, he continued to help move the work of the APMRF forward”, Cindy Parseghian, Ara’s daughter-in-law and the foundation’s president, told the Star.

Parseghian arrived at Notre Dame from Northwestern, having added four losses to the struggling Irish seasons following Frank Leahy’s retirement. I thought I would faint.

Parseghian would catch the attention of the University of Notre Dame, taking his coaching talents to South Bend in 1964. “I’m always in a rush”.

That New Year’s Eve, a crowd of more than 85,000 filled old Tulane Stadium in New Orleans and saw two unbeaten teams – Alabama and Notre Dame – battle to the final whistle, with Notre Dame pulling out a 24-23 victory and laying claim to the national championship. “It made me kind of relax and go on to have a big year”. For the first time in over a century, Miami (Ohio) and Notre Dame play each other in football this season. As he would do at Notre Dame later, Parseghian worked wonders with the Wildcats.

It’s a sad day in South Bend, Indiana and really for the entire sport of college football.

Parseghian coached 21 consensus first-team All-Americans during his time in South Bend, highlighted by his lone Heisman victor, quarterback John Huarte (’64).