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RIP Ara

One of the greats. Prayers to his family.

I clearly remember my father calling the ND football office the morning of oct 10, 1974 to let them know their qb fir the '92-'93 recruiting class had been born.
 
Jimmy Cefalo told a story once about how he was in Ara's office on a recruiting visit and he addressed him by the wrong first name. Ooops.
 
Back when ND meant something. I had an uncle that was a die hard ND fan and took me to my first college game there. I'll never forget how great a college football atmosphere was the first time I saw it in person. Ara had a coolness and mystique about him. Since then, when he retired in 1974, ND has had quite the oddball list of coaches.

  • Dan Devine
  • Gerry Faust
  • Lou Holtz
  • Bob Davie
  • George O'Leary
  • Tyrone Willingham
  • Kent Baer
  • Charlie Weis
  • Brian Kelly
Yikes...the only decent one was the magician, Lou Holtz. How fortunate we've been with Joe, BO'B, and CJF in a similar timespan.
 
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Ara was drafted by the Steelers in the 13th round of the 1947 NFL draft. He was also picked by the Cleveland Browns of the rival All-America Football Conference (AAFC), a team coached by Paul Brown, his old Great Lakes coach. Ara signed with the Browns.
A good man. May he Rest in Peace.
 
And was owned by USC. Back in those days their schedule was a laugher with the exception of USC and the occasional MSU or PITT 76 at the end of his tenure. The years they rolled AND beat USC they were awarded the MNC

Never lost to Bear Bryant.
 
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Two Mike McQ references in an Ara P. RIP thread. One mentions a phone call made which reminds us of a phone call that wasn't made. The other reminds us of a date reference which may have been made up.

An outstanding LB at my Catholic high school was headed to Michigan until Ara called the principal's office and asked to speak to him. That's all it took for him to flip. This was back in '67.
 
Inters
He did a terrific job at Northwestern, which ain't easy.

Dave Revsine just posted this:

Very sad to see news on Ara Parseghian. Favorite nugget - he never lost the Northwestern-ND gm. 4-0 vs Irish at NU, 9-0 vs. NU at ND.
There is an old like about a coach so good he could take his and beat yours or take yours and beat his. I guess ND vs NW under Ara is exactly that.
 
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