like any other group of humans.
Had a fight with John Vella from SC. Also had a colorful career at ND off the field!!!
Very few athletic powerhouses do not have special athlete-only housing. That along with the fact there are no special Jock-only classes really means that the athletes really are integrated into the student body.
I think all of us had friends that were football players.
For example, Freshman year, George Williams invited me down to a BAND
*
lived around the corner on my floor his last semester at ND. For some reason, we saw a lot of female traffic at that time. Nice guy, shy and humble. Most of the other football players were just regular guys who'd be happy hanging out with the non-athlete regular guys - going to movies, playing intrahall hoops at the Rock, or coming by the room to watch a game on TV.
A lot of the football players were good guys and didn't have any problems interacting with other students. Boo Williams, Pat Terrell, and Demetrius DuBose were all really nice guys. But, just like anywhere else, there were the ones such as Stan Smagala and Ricky Watters who thought a little too highly of themselves to hang out with any non-football players.
...stopped by our dorm room carrying several cases of beer. (They had lived in our room when they were at ND many years before.)
They provided the beer and some interesting stories, and we provided the parties that night. A fair and fun trade.
Someday I'll have to go back and return the favor to whomever is in my former room.
To answer the question, though, yes, it was normal to hang with the ones in your hall. But it depended on the person, just like with non-athletes. One player lived next door, and cherished his privacy; another lived down the hall and we had a hard time keeping him out of our party room. There were some people who just didn't socialize much, and some who did, regardless of whether they were a player or not. Some ROTC folks only partied with ROTC; some band folks only partied with band folks; some athletes (regardless of sport) stuck with athletes; etc.
Oh, and don't get in a wrestling match with an offensive lineman after a couple of beers.
Most of the athletes (all sports) I got to know lived near me in the dorm. Then, when I would see them around they would introduce me to whoever they were hanging out with. In that way you get to meet a bunch of the athletes. And it's not always about the stars either. It was always great to see one of your dormmates who worked hard on the scout team to get in during a blowout. It was always a big moment for him and a big moment for us to scream about in the stadium. You might recognize many of the names of guys I got to meet and know, but many others are now doctors, lawyers, salesmen, accountants, etc.
One of the guys next door to me commented that he was so glad that ND didn't have athlete dorms because he needed to be able to get away from football every now and then. He also liked that he got to learn about other opportunities in life after he was done with football. The last I heard from him, he was working in a large accounting firm.
However, for the most part, many of their closest friendships were with the guys on the team, as you might expect if you ever experienced high school sports, but those weren't their only friendships or interactions.
Mickey
I hung with him one time in our dorm room in Flanner...We watched the McDonald's High School All-Star Game the year Shawn Kemp was there...I believe Mourning and Laettner played as well..
2 years in the basement of Sorin, one on the 2nd floor. The dude walked around the hallway after parietals only in his underwear. Damn, was that intimidating! (Mostly because he took up the entire hallway, not because of what you're thinking.)
Also, Craig Hentrich regularly played Monk Hoops with us. He was the most "normal" football player I interacted with. (Then, again, he WAS a kicker.)
made it all worthwhile for me. Dan from down the hall would probably disagree though, but he hasn't seen much of anyone lately.
Really nice guy to everyone around. Stopped by my room a few times just to say hi or see what I was up to when I had my door open. Always said hi if I saw him walking around campus. He was also the head chef at Bullwinkle's, Dillon's student run food service. Made the best damn pepperoni pizza bagels known to mankind. Basically, very friendly to everyone he came into contact with.
He was damn good, too.
Greg Bell (the running back, not the poster) lived down the hall and was always kind enough to try to introduce us to the any of the 350 SMC girls dropping by his room on a daily basis.
used to play video games with Bobbie Howard and trade music likes and dislikes with ivory covington back in the day. Also got drunk with David Givens on several occassions. All great guys.
There are basically 3 groups of football players:
1) Guys you wouldn't know are on the football team b/c their best friends at school aren't on the football team.
2) Players that socialize equally with athletes & non-athletes, but if you run into them they are most likely with other football players.
3) Guys who rarely socialize with non-football players.
In my experience, 75-80% of the players fall into categories 1 & 2. Some guys, for whatever reason, don't care to be part of the regular student body. They typically aren't mean to "regular" students, but it is a shock if you see them with someone other than a football player.
Irish 01
...a buddy and I decided to go over to the Huddle for some chow.
Who is walking in to Cavanaugh as we're walking out?
Tim Brown, Heisman Trophy in hand.
He was joking around, but I foiund it pretty funny to walk down the hall and see a Heisman door stop.
Bottle of Boone's Farm Apple. Chia pet. Heisman trophy. Used sweatshirt, airing out.
Mark Green (who lived next door to my friend) was coming in with him.
That was a very insular, menacing crowd that tended to keep to themselves.
They also enjoyed drinking, chasing skirts, and breaking shit way too much.
Grant Irons, the world's nicest human being in the history of existence, and he was always hanging out with the hoi polloi.
Then again, a certain Texas A&M transfer into lewd sex acts and torturing animals, was, thankfully, not
IG
I was in line getting a beer, I turned around and saw this couple with Grant Irons buttons all over their clothes. Very nice people as well.
because he was especially nice even to the people who had no idea he was a starter on the football team.
lead to further damage. When he came in I think he was a very good prospect, just had some tough luck.
Not seeing a whole lot of playing time, only 3 tackles on the year. I thought he was done with football, too, but then heard his name on the radio a few weekends ago. Good for him - he's a really great guy.
I saw him on tv a couple of weeks ago. Oakland maybe?
Some guys were very outgoing and friendly. Some were quiet and reserved. Some were great guys. Some were jerks.
And the same goes for the athletes.
They are students. They go to class, take tests, go to parties, hang out, like everyone else. The only big difference is the huge time committment that their sport demands. But I can remember watching a lab partner play basketball on TV in New York one evening and then sitting next to him in embryology lab the next morning.
It is one of the great aspects of ND.
During my time under the Dome I knew several athletes well, both FB and BB players. It was quite commom to see them on campus: in the dining halls, in the dorms, in classes, at the library, at concerts, etc. There were always some who seemed aloof, but for the most part the players mixed with everyone else. Most had less time for socializing than the rest of us, and many were with teammates much of the time, but that was not unlike a lot of groups on campus. My son is now a soph at ND, and the same situation seems to exist. He knows several players casually, one of the BB starters lives on his floor, he is in class with a handful of FB players, has socialized with some, etc. I am under the impression that athletes at ND are integrated into the student body pretty well, more so than at most D1 programs that have athletic dorms, etc.
My father (who does not follow sports, esp. sports he never heard of growing up like american football) came to visit me in my dorm, but didn't know where my room was. One of the guys in the dorm approached him, and learning that he was looking for me, showed my father where my room was. I don't think my dad even understood what I meant when I pointed out to him later that ND's starting quarterback had shown him where my room was. ("oh is that a hard position to play at? He seemed very intelligent")
Overall, the players are fully integrated into the student body. However, with the workloads they have, only a few have time to "hang out" on a regular basis, and so many often stick with a few close friends.
for the first three years of school (2000-03), and I lived among such athletes as Shane Walton, Ivan Kartelo ("F#*$ Brey" was his battle cry), etc.
I played video games with Walton sometimes. He beat me at football (go figure), but I kicked his ass at VirtuaTennis. Ha.
Good times. I remember telling him, "Serbs, Croats, what's the difference?" He wasn't a Stojakovic fan.
So there.
seemed like a good guy but you learned not to say anything funny around him. He would start laughing and either punch you in the shoulder or slap you on the back.
He wrote and printed out warrants granting him the right to search freshman rooms and confiscate snack food (long list on warrant) when he was drunk. And then there was the time he broke the exit sign, which we rigged back into the ceiling with a box of apple juice and a friendship bracelet. I would argue that his battle cry was actually "FRESHMAN BITCHES", despite was wackybasilisk said. He wasn't a terribly good influence on another 7' European that lived in the dorm, either.
And his tricycle.
What's cooler than ice cold?
Tom Timmermans
and snacks. He would clean me out of house and home, and what was I going to do? I'm 5'8 190 pounds.
He was drinking at my friend's apartment and went to the bathroom. He ended up smacking his head on the entrance to the bathroom, got pissed off and punched a hole in the closet door next to the bathroom. With his fist still in the door he yelled out "uh oh I broke your door".
On Friday of FSU '93 weekend (my frosh year), a group of FSU fans stopped me while I was walking from Nieuland to Fisher, and asked me to direct them to the athletes' dorm. (Recall that FSU football players live in their own dorm, Burt Reynolds Hall. Now we know how the Bandit spent that bootleggin' money.)
"We don't have athletes dorms here," I replied. "All the athletes live in the same dorms non-athletes live in."
From the look on their faces, you would've thought I just informed them that ND doesn't have electricity yet.
that living in the same dorm will help them bond together (a la 7th floor crew, perhaps?).
I think that having the athletes thrown in with the "regular" students (almost every student at ND is exceptional, really) is one of the best things about ND. We're all human beings, why should we be kept separated from our fellow man?
The same argument apparently does not hold true in the face of parietals.
the football players at ND are more "integrated" with the non-athlete students than at other schools I've attended. Residentiality (still don't particularly like that term given its Monkian reminder) is a big part of it, as is the smaller student body and the choice of majors that one can pursue at ND (vs., say, at Cal or Michigan...only chose those schools because of my own experience and onservations).
At Cal and Michigan, the teams themselves seem to serve as the way to "personalize" the school for the athlete, whereas at ND, there's a more intimate nature to the community as a whole. Also, at Cal and Michigan, the preponderance of ethnic studies and kinesiology majors, respectively, means that the athletes are more likely to be taking classes with a cohort of fellow athletes. I don't particularly care about that, but it does mean that the football players can sort of "hang with their own" even when in the classroom setting.
very busy with their teams, they were also quite sociable and friendly, and would "hang out" if they had time.
That said, between studies and athletics, there isn't much spare time in these athletes' lives.
When I was a student there (graduated in '04), my friends and I knew several of the football players, and they were all pretty down to earth and friendly. Can't speak for anyone else, but from my own experiences and those of others who knew them, I seems like the team was fairly open and sociable with the rest of the student body.
We came from very different backgrounds and didn't have a lot in common, but Nintendo 64 was a great bonding tool. I still hate screwed music like Swisha House, but we learned a little about each other. At ND, everybody has them in all of their classes. They eat in the dining hall, they're in your group for group projects, etc., etc.
They're not treated much differently than everybody else (by men).
I lived near a football player who was rather quiet and kept to himself, and I lived near football players who would hang out a lot with the rest of us.
It depends on the personality of the player in question.
Chris
Oh, sorry, I was talking about JoPa.
Wrong thread.
Interacts with players quite frequently. I considered a few of them friends while I was there. It's pretty common.
The only exceptions MIGHT be those who were "stars" at the time, and only the biggest stars, but that may just be my mistake.
I lived on the notorious second floor of Flanner. Steve Neihaus, Tom Parise (sp?), Mike Calhoun Terry Eurich were good friends, very down to earth guys. They had their own schedule but we didn't think of them as anything different than anybody else. if you are a pest or want to be their best friend they probably won't want to hang with you.