The Monogram Club dinner Friday night at the Purcell Pavilion was a very nice affair with the entire football team, coaching staff, families, friends, ND Monogram winners and guests. An ND player sat at each table and we actually had two players—both very impressive young men: seniors Hafis Williams (#94 NG) and Steve Filer (#46 OLB).
Williams is from Elizabeth, NJ and he selected ND when Charlie Weis assured his Grandmom of a great ND education and a degree. He lives in Morrisey with Michael Floyd and Jamoris Slaughter. Filer is a proud Dillon Hall man. He is a product of Mt. Carmel H.S in south Chicago (alma mater of Michael Pro— “Link (Missing), Ebony Messiah, Black Baby Jesus”—Burke and brother Johnny “Gomez” Burke).
I did not think it was appropriate to probe young Williams about Michael Floyd, but I had to ask how he was doing and what his mindset is. Hafis replied, “Michael is remorseful. He knows the seriousness of the situation. When you take away something that someone loves so much…it gets your attention. He is a good person and we are all praying for him.”
While his legal situation is undecided and his status with the team is undetermined, he is enrolled for summer school.
Outgoing President of the Monogram Club Dr. Joe Restic (classmate ND ’79) was a highly proud and enthusiastic M.C. for the after dinner speeches.
Dr. Joe Restic ND ‘79
A.D. Jack Swarbrick was equally proud as he professed the success of the many sports teams on campus and the continuity and stability of the coaches.
A.D. Jack Swarbrick
2010/2011 has been a very successful athletic year with National Championships for Women’s Soccer and Fencing, championship Finals games for Men’s LAX and Women’s basketball and a great Big East campaign for Men’s hoops and the Frozen Four for Men’s Hockey. Jack stated that the football team has lacked similar continuity and success…but he is very confident that we are back on track with Coach Kelly, “Who never speaks about going to a BCS bowl…he always talks about National Championships.”
Following the dinner, we were invited across the way to the Stadium for a cocktail party at the Football Reception Room just inside the North Tunnel entrance. The benefactor for this permanent lounge for former players, coaches, families is Peter Schivarelli ’71 whose has been the manager for the group “Chicago” for over 30 years. He re-told the story of “Chicago” practicing all week with the ND band in 2006 and appearing at halftime of the ND-UNC game—the first musical band other than a marching band to ever play with the ND musicians at a home football game.
Peter Schivarelli ND ’71
We talked about both growing up in Chicago and the first to attend college in our families. Pete is real success story. And he is the original “Rudy”. After graduating from H.S., Pete worked for four years and was making good money working in the Streets Department for the City of Chicago. But he had a burning desire to attend college where he was admitted to ND and successfully walked-onto the 1967 team to play for Ara for the next four years. Pete played a major role in sponsoring Ara’s statue outside the “B” Gate of the stadium (and he is actually depicted as one of the players = #68). Speaking of Rudy:
Mary (Shukis) Behler ND ’79 & “Rudy” Ruettiger “ND ‘75
Here is Mary (Shukis) Behler ND ’79 with Dan “Rudy” Ruettiger ND ’75 at Martin’s Supermarket. Mary has the everlasting distinction as the first women in Notre Dame Athletic history to earn a Monogram (for Tennis). She is the “Rosa Parks” of ND women’s sports.
But back to Peter Schivarelli, here is some less known trivia he shared with us Friday night. When “Chicago” was struggling to go national, Jimi Hendrix picked them out to be he warm-up band for a tour and after that Janis Joplin did the same. And then “Chicago” finally had “cred” and started to get national airplay time. In return, “Chicago” did the same for other young aspiring artists and bands. Question: name a famous performer with strong ND ties who “Chicago” took out on the road with them in the early 70’s…. “The Boss”…Bruce. Lastly, Peter is the Godfather to what great ND football player who is currently in the NFL?—Tom Zibilkowski.
I also had the opportunity to speak to former ND Running back Reggie Brooks, who now works for the University as the liaison with the Monogram Club and a current ND coach (who I will not name). After viewing the practice that morning, I asked the Coach whether there was any talk of converting freshman QB Everett Golson to a safety or cornerback. He shook his head sideways and winked at me and said, “Jeff…young Everett is a quarterback.”
Speaking of QB’s, my Dillon Hall roomie George Scanlon missed the Blue-Gold game because he was playing at a Member-Guest golf outing at Timuquana CC near downtown Jacksonville. This was the boyhood course of David Duvall and his Dad was the Head Pro there (did you know that they are the only Father-Son duo to ever win separate PGA tour events on the same day?) But anyway, former Faustian QB Steve Beurlein was also playing in that event. He told George he regretted that he only had one season of eligibility to play for Lou Holtz.
Former QB Steve Beurlein and George Scanlon ND ‘79
The rest of the reception was also fun with former players like D-back Tommy Longo ND ’69 (who looks as fit to lace ‘em up today) and All-American Mike McCoy ND ’69 enjoying the camaraderie (McCoy was the 2nd player selected in the 1970 draft by the Green Bay Packers and must have been a giant back then because he is still huge today).
It was a long and good day on Friday. A whole lot of socializing, storytelling and fun.
GO IRISH.
Abe