Occasionally, we’re asked why Notre Dame doesn’t celebrate Homecoming.
The answer, of course, is simple. Every Notre Dame home game is a homecoming, a reunion for ten of thousands of Fighting Irish fans and alums from all over the country. Away games and the Shamrock Series are also opportunities for members of the Notre Dame family to reunite, rekindle old friendships, and make new ones.
Rocket Ismail on one of his two TD returns in the 1989 Michigan game.
Before Saturday night’s game with Michigan, a very special reunion took place, 25 years after the incident that prompted it – at one of the most famous Notre Dame-Michigan games ever played.
Let’s tell the story from the perspective of Alex Adamson, 2002 Notre Dame grad now working in financial services in California.
Not long ago, Adamson tracked down Bill Hackett, a kicker on the 1989 Fighting Irish, and sent him this email:
Hi Billy,
We’ve never officially met. This is a long overdue thank you note but bear with the story for a minute if you don’t mind.
My name is Alex Adamson and in 1989, when I was eight, my dad took me to the ND – Michigan game for my birthday. I lived in Ann Arbor and my dad, an ND grad, lived in Denver. I didn’t get to see him often so that was exciting enough for me. But having him there to go see the #1 vs. #2 game was about as good as life got for me. I was convinced I was the only Irish fan that lived in Ann Arbor.
We sat in the third row with a small group of ND fans who stood for the entirety of the game. I couldn’t see a thing. My dad lifted me up by my elbows or my midsection for literally every play. I was sore the next day and I’m sure he was too. I will never forget Rocket’s kickoff return in the fourth quarter. My dad trying to hold me up while he was jumping up and down and screaming “he’s gonna do it again, HE’S GONNA DO IT AGAIN.”
After we won the game he put me on his shoulders and, obviously, we rushed the field. You likely have no recollection of this but as you were jogging back into the tunnel you saw me on my dad’s shoulders. You ripped off your wrist bands, handed them to me and said “here you go, kid.” It sent me into orbit. I put them on and didn’t take them off for weeks. Before we left the field we looked up your number and the rest of the season I literally prayed for long field goal attempts.
I was remembering it all vividly this week while being bombarded with all the ND – Michigan rivalry tributes. It’s definitely not an average college football player who, after a game like that, takes a second to make a kid’s year. It may have been a small thing for you but for me it was an unbelievable exclamation point on one of the best days of my life. So thank you.
I’ll be wearing some wrist bands for this year’s game (yours were worn through long ago) and cheering like crazy and hopefully the game will be as good as that one was – although an ND blowout would be fine too.
Go Irish and again thank you.
Alex
Alex Adamson (left) former ND player Bill Hackett, and Gary Adamson outside Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore before the Michigan game Saturday.
Bill Hackett’s reply included the following:
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of Notre Dame and the lady on the dome. Your email brought tears to my eyes. For me being part of such a special time at Notre dame has made me who I am today. Like you, the Irish spirit runs through my veins. To be part of such a magical moment in time for you and your dad is very humbling.
And sure enough, the Adamsons – Alex and his dad, Gary, a 1975 Notre Dame alum – met up with Hackett, who now lives in Atlanta and works in insurance, prior to Saturday’s game, after attending the Saturday Morning Chalk Talk at the Morris Inn.
They met for more than an hour, and Alex presented Hackett a new set of ND wristbands.
“I wore them the entire game,” Hackett noted. “And obviously they brought the right result.”
