Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2017 21 rience," the eldest Parseghian said several years ago in one of our last interviews with him. "I would be driving in the car by myself, and I would break down. "Here are two wonderful parents … why would this happen to them, and why did the poor grandchildren have to go through it? That I can't understand and never will be able to." Even then, his fighting spirit never departed. "Being involved with competitive athletics has helped me with this," Parseghian said. "You get knocked down, and you have to get up, par- ticularly in football. The very nature of the game is physical, mental, stra- tegic, emotional … "Do I have faith we're going to find a solution? Yes. Did we get the silver bullet before our grandchildren were gone? No, but we're still hopeful of finding a cure so other parents and grandparents and children won't have to suffer under this agony of this doggone disease." He confessed that the anguish he experienced elicited questions about his own faith. "There are days I pick up the news- paper and see some tragic event that has occurred and wonder why," he said. "I don't know if pastors or priests or ministers can totally ex- plain some of these situations that seem to be so unfair. "You're challenged with your faith — but you don't let it affect what you find as your cause and the need for a hopeful solution." At times throughout the 21st cen- tury one might muse whether the football gods have said, "Notre Dame had its time in the 20th century; it's time for others to thrive now." And then you think of the legacy of Parseghian and others who brought such honor to the school … and dare to not let such a spirit die. ✦ The True Gentleman Roughly 1,000 people attended Ara Parseghian's Memorial Service Aug. 5 at Notre Dame's Sacred Heart Church. It included Miami (Ohio) head coach Chuck Martin — a Fighting Irish assistant from 2010-13 — Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald and Brian Kelly, all representing the schools where Parseghian had served. "A man's man, he's a football coach's dream in the sense that he repre- sented the toughness of the game as well," Kelly said of Parseghian. Upon taking the job in December 2009, Kelly said he reached out immedi- ately to Parseghian, who would weekly write him notes of encouragement. "I almost had to beg him to come by [to practice] because he didn't want to be a distraction," Kelly recalled with a chuckle. "'You're Ara Parseghian! You're not a distraction!'" When Parseghian asked how long he would like him to speak with the team, Kelly deadpanned, "For an hour, if you would." Former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz (1986-96) also developed a strong bond with Parseghian during his days. "The question we should all ask ourselves is this: 'If we didn't show up, who would miss us and why?'" Holtz said in a testimonial after the service. "I'm here to tell you, if Ara Parseghian had not shown up, so many people would have missed his insight, his love, and his feeling and his charity for people. He really was a tremendous individual. "A lot of people can be successful, but Ara was significant. Significance is when you help other people be successful." In his eulogy, Tom Parseghian, Ara's nephew, read the 1899 poem by John Walter Wayland that he said epitomized his uncle. "The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies. "Who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity. "Who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another, who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements. "Who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy, whose deed follows his word, who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own and who appears well in any company. "A man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe." "In 1964," Tom Parseghian concluded, "before being offered the job, Fa- ther [Theodore] Hesburgh asked him a question: 'Ara, will you adhere to the standards of integrity we expect here at Notre Dame?' He verbally answered that question that day — and he continued to answer that question for the next 53 years." — Lou Somogyi Former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz (1986-96) was among the speakers at a testimonial held at Notre Dame following the funeral of Ara Parseghian Aug. 5. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND While Parseghian's 95-17-4 career record and two consensus national titles at Notre Dame were hailed, he was lauded as an even better man through his conduct beyond the playing fields. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND