Featured excerpts

"Good times were had by all and strong fellowships were formed.  The Interhall program filled a void in continuing the sport we had played in elementary and high school, in one of the greatest football environments ever."

Dan Castro, '58

"In 1963 we got off to a very good start and led the Western Division with a 4-0 record by early November. It was looking like we would be playing Stanford, the Eastern Division champion in the Stadium on Sunday, November 24. We were all looking forward to that. Then, John Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22. The entire campus was in mourning and all of us were numb with sadness. The hall chapels and Sacred Heart were full of students and the grotto was ablaze with candles. Football was the last thing on anyone’s mind."

Bill Cragg, '65

"We had a fellow named Enver Azzizi on the team.  He was from Venezuela and had never played our type of football. He was a large person and played nose guard. On one play Enver rushed the quarterback and put his right hand up in the air and the football hit square in the middle if his palm.  It stuck in his palm, he brought it down and now had both hands on the ball and started running towards OUR end zone.  We were running beside him, yelling for him to "turn around" and "run the other way" ...  finally we had to tackle him ourselves!"

Jim Karol, '68

"I don’t think you can compare interhall football to anything… it’s an outlet to continue to do something you did in HS…it’s the camaraderie, the success or failure you share, an outlet in being apart of a team… the memories and stories you get to share."

Rocky Bleier, '68

"Our '70 Morrissey team was fortunate to have a set of brothers from the Cleveland area -  Jeff and Jim Shula (nephews of Uncle Don Shula).  Jeff was our QB, but like most teams with limited numbers, most of us played both ways.  We didn't have an offense until Jeff wrote to his Uncle Don (now the head coach of the Miami Dolphins).  Uncle Don graciously sent back 3-4 old Baltimore Colt plays which we practiced over and over."

Joe Fieweger, '71

"The funny part was that in one of the games, I think the first one, one of these Xavier guys found himself lined up across from another guy from our high school who suddenly recognized his old friend and teammate – who he knew was not a fellow Domer.  I heard our opponent say pretty loudly “Pete!?!?” and Pete from XU responded “Hey Dennis”.  Fortunately, Dennis was mellow about the whole thing and did not blow the whistle with Interhall Sports (where I also had a part time job)."

James Carr, '72

"Our Morrissey team members got closer each year, and our team got better each year as our plays got more sophisticated and worked more reliably, and we had more fun along the way. We even ended up with a Morrissey fight song, sung to the “tune” of the University of Southern California fight song:

“Fight on, for Morrissey, the black and gold, to victory!” - repeated over and over

Ken Gillig, '73

"One thing I'll never forget that season is that football stars All-American Greg Polowski (#1 NFL draft pick) and Ralph Stepaniak (#176 NFL pick) would regularly show up at our games, often on cold and windy October and November Sunday mornings.  I think one of them broke their leg and would show up in a golf cart in 35-degree weather supporting us."

Peter Burke, '73

"Our quad rivals were Dillon Hall which was next door to my dorm, Alumni Hall, affectionately called the Dawgs!  Most of the team was comprised of our Freshman floor known as “Shit Alley!”  Named for its luxurious accommodations."
Peter Chimento, '76

"Perhaps the most unique and ultimately career boosting benefit of playing interhall football came in 2001 when I was interviewing for a position at the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). The Chief Operating Officer at CSH was Steve Thomas. During the interview (on the phone) he asked if I was the same Sue Augustus who played interhall football - turns out Steve had been my coach senior year and I had not put two and two together. Long story short- I was hired and Steve told everyone that it was because I had been a fast and aggressive football player (not endearing to the non-football fans in the office). I spent 14 years at CSH."
Sue Augustus, '77

"My last game was on October 18 1975 against Morrissey at Stepan field—under a cold and gray October sky.  2 days later I had surgery. I now have a right knee replacement. When people ask about my scars I tell them I had a knee injury playing football at Notre Dame!!!" 

Terry Joiner, '78

"The Trojan Horse was built by architecture students. I knew one of them, who was looking for guys with football equipment they could borrow. They needed uniforms matching the varsity. Off Campus had gold helmets and gold pants, so they told me that a couple of the Off Campus football players could be inside the horse if we got them a few other uniforms. I didn’t really want to be in the horse, but I thought it would be funny to jump out of the horse, then go over to the ND sideline and blend in, and maybe watch the whole USC game from the sideline, so I said OK. Wenzel and I were in that group. We were given regular ND blue game jerseys to wear and we got into the horse. As they wheeled us out onto the field, we looked out the openings in the horse and saw that one of the teams had green jerseys on, and it wasn’t USC. Door opened, we jumped out and ran onto the field, but the crowd was already going nuts because the team was running out of the tunnel wearing green. I tried (briefly) to stay on the sideline for the game. A security guy on the field told me I had to go to my seat in the stands, where I watched the game, dressed in a football uniform (wrong color jersey), looking like a dork."

Matt Ratterman, '78

"We had a play designed for that where I'd bounce a pass to the wide out who had taken  two steps backwards. So it was actually a legal lateral. You got a true hop on the bounce and was easy to complete. but it looked like an incomplete pass since it hit the ground. So the idea was the defense would stop, or at least pause when the ball hit the ground, the wide out would kind of shrug like, "bad throw, man" and then take off."

James M. Edwards, '79

"In the 1979 interhall season, Dillon Hall lost the championship game 3-0 to Morrisey. Dillon lost our QB to a knee injury in the semi-final game so we had to play w/ a running back as our QB in the championship game. The crazy story behind that was our QB was Brian Crowley and the running back who replaced him was Dana Crowley - Brian's NEPHEW ( NOT BROTHER OR COUSIN ). Brian Crowley was the youngest of a family of 10 and Brain had a couple of nephews/ nieces that were older than him."

Jim Trizna, '80

"I only had 1 kicking opportunity that season [1986] which was the 3-0 field goal against Alumni that you mentioned. We were playing at Stepan field and after both teams struggled to get points on the board, I had an opportunity to kick a 38 yard field slightly right from center. The snap and hold were great and fortunately hit it the ball well off the tee to score our only points.  After the kick, we were all excited jumping up and down.  At our hall Mass later in the evening, our Cavanaugh rector, Father Miceli praised our victory on the golden toe of Reggie Ho."

Reginald Ho, '89

"We noticed that there were cameras and students with microphones at our Interhall games freshman year. I did not think much of it until changing the channels in my room and seeing a replay of the game accompanied by the driest announcing you had ever heard. My roommate, Mike DuBay, noticed this as well. I could see the hamster running on the wheel in his head. I knew that he would be the announcer the next year. He teamed up with our other close friend, Steve Connolly, and the replays became ex-post-facto must-see-television once they took over."

Matthew Garberina, '93