Father Ted Hesburgh: He Coached Me

By Tim Bourret and Digger Phelps

The University of Notre Dame is a special place, regarded by many as the world's top Catholic institution of higher learning. Yet its modern reputation for excellence and service is only part of the legacy of Father Theodore Hesburgh, the university's president from 1952 to 1987. Father Ted's influence extended beyond Notre Dame's campus in Northern Indiana. He worked with presidents, Popes, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and his guidance resulted in nuclear nonproliferation, immigration reform, and civil rights legislation. One of the many Domers influenced by Father Ted was Richard "Digger" Phelps, Notre Dame's men's basketball coach from 1971 to 1991. Phelps gives readers a seat at the table with Father Ted, from the basketball locker room in the 1970s to Father Ted's final Mass before he passed away in 2015. This account is an intimate portrait of an unlikely friendship and a rare look at the private moments of a man Digger often describes as "a living saint."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Triumph Books
• Release date: Jun 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781633198609

Book preview

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. THE FINAL WEEK

2. A DISCIPLE OF FATHER HESBURGH

3. HESBURGH’S STARTING FIVE

4. HESBURGH AND ATHLETICS

5. HESBURGH, THE GODFATHER OF CIVIL RIGHTS

6. RUNNING NOTRE DAME

7. THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE HIDDEN CRUCIFIX

8. THE MEDALS

9. THE HESBURGH STAMP

APPENDIX. HESBURGH HONORARY DEGREES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Linda Costas for her help in editing of this book and to Karen Blackman for her many hours of transcription. And to Heath Bradley for his layout and design contributions. Cover photo by Brother Charles McBride, University of Notre Dame Sports Information. Interior photos by Digger Phelps, Linda Costas, Chuck Bourret, University of Notre Dame Public Relations and University of Notre Dame archives, Carl Ackerman, Notre Dame Sports Information, Diane Crawford, The United States Postal Service, and Barbara Johnson, Unviversity of Notre Dame Multimedia Services.

INTRODUCTION

Father Ted Hesburgh was a living saint.

That is the most direct way I can say it.

He had an incredible impact on my life, not only when I was the head basketball coach at Notre Dame for 20 years (1971-91), but even more so when I retired. Living to this day just a couple of blocks from campus made it so easy to visit him in his office on the 13th floor of the Hesburgh Library.

You probably don’t see a lot of coaches say such things about the presidents they worked for, especially over a 20-year period, but that was the case for me.

I learned so much from him through the

examples he set. They led to lessons I passed on to my players. Today I am proud of all of my former players and their contributions to society. Our approach was one where our program was bigger than just basketball.

That all came from Father Ted.

But, for me personally, he inspired me spiritually.

Whether they were dinners at Parisi’s Restaurant in South Bend or two-hour conversations in his office, I wanted to share the stories of his influence on my life. That is why I wrote this book.

I was a part of Father Hesburgh’s life journey for 44 years. I know how fortunate I was to have him as the Notre Dame President when I came here in 1971. Whenever I went to his office with a problem, you just knew he was going to provide you with a sound recommendation.

I am one of many who benefitted from knowing Father Hesburgh. Other than Father Edward Sorin, who founded the University of Notre Dame in 1842, Father Hesburgh is the key person in the history of this institution.

Father Ted told me he wanted to become a priest when he was six and he came to Notre Dame at the age of 16. That was his mission in life, to be a priest. In his 35 years as president, he made this the top Catholic institution of higher learning in the world.

While his mission was to simply be a priest, he was so much more to so many people. I discuss his impact on the world through many stories he told about his involvement on the Civil Rights Commission for 15 years, one of 16 presidential appointments he held.

He was a man with great people skills and integrity and he applied those skills every day in the way he ran the University with the help of Father Edmund P. Joyce.

So, he inspired me to become more than a basketball coach. And at the same time, this book shares what I learned from him, what he valued, what he believed, and what he wanted to be done by all of us.

Hopefully the examples of his inspiration of me will inspire others to make changes in this world today for people who have not been so blessed.

As Mother Teresa was as a nun, Father Ted was as a priest. I certainly hope one day Father Ted follows her into Sainthood.

—Digger Phelps

As a Notre Dame student from 1973-78, I benefitted from the wisdom of Father Hesburgh. I first met him when I was 10 years old at a Notre Dame Alumni Club meeting in Hartford, Connecticut. My father was class of ’48 and I was told about the great leader of his alma mater at an early age.

I had great respect for Father Hesburgh and what he did for the school while I was a student, but that only continued to grow as I entered the working world in South Carolina as sports information director at Clemson University.

When I traveled the country as part of my job and visited various universities, I could sense the respect people had for Notre Dame. And to me that great respect was a result of the way Father Hesburgh represented the school and showed an ability to convey those central values to Notre Dame students and graduates.

For those of us that graduated and moved away, there was a sense of carrying on the Notre Dame mission throughout the country. There was a sense of service.

As I come to the end of my career, I felt an urge to thank Notre Dame and Father Hesburgh for having such a positive impact on my life and for opening so many doors. When I applied for my first job at Clemson in 1978, Notre Dame’s athletic reputation and reputation for producing outstanding administrators helped my chances in being hired. Forty years later I am still here. Clemson has been great to me, but I owe the opportunity I had to Notre Dame.

And that reputation, even in the college athletic world is not traced back to a former student-athlete, or even a great coach like Digger Phelps. That reputation for excellence is traced back to Father Hesburgh.

My second reason for doing this book is my relationship with Digger Phelps. I wanted people to see another side of Coach Phelps through his relationship with perhaps the most important American priest in the last 100 years.

I also wanted Notre Dame people to understand the degree to which Coach Phelps cares about this school and the people who made it great.

—Tim Bourret

1. THE FINAL WEEK

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 one of my former managers at Notre Dame, Mike Gurdak, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., went on one of the internet sites that covers Notre Dame and saw someone had posted that Father Ted Hesburgh was gravely ill.

So I called him. Mike, that’s not true, I said because I just didn’t want to hear that. I didn’t want to face it.

I immediately called Melanie Chapleau, who had served as Father Ted’s office assistant the last 28 years. What’s going on with Father Ted? She said, Well, he’s okay, but he’s over at the Holy Cross House.

There were times when Father Ted had health issues, but after a week or two, he would bounce back and would be good for six months.

But in the winter he had to hibernate to some degree. He just couldn’t go many places because of the South Bend weather. Once in a while, Melanie and others would take him to his office across campus on the 13th floor of the library named in his honor.

So, that day I went to the 11:30 a.m. Mass at Holy Cross House, which is where most of the priests live. That is the time they concelebrate mass each weekday. As he was coming in with his nurse in a wheelchair, I put my hand out, leaned down and said, Fr. Ted, it’s Digger.

He said to me, Pray for me.

That hit me, It was the first time in 44 years he said that to me. I still tear up today when I think about him saying that to me. I had asked him to pray for me many times and he had given me special blessings and guidance when I was going through prostate and bladder cancer within the last six years.

I got myself together and said, That’s why I am here.

He went up front with the other priests where he always sat to concelebrate the Mass.

After Mass, I waited for him and said, I said prayers for you today.

I then said, Please, give me a blessing! So he took his thumb and blessed me on the forehead.

He went into the cafeteria and I spoke with Jim and Mary, his brother and sister-in-law in the hallway outside.

All of a sudden the nurse came out and said to me, He wants to talk to you. Come inside.

So I went inside and sat down at his table next to him. Father Don McNeill was sitting there also and when I sat down, Father Don said to Father Hesburgh, Oh, you’ve got the coach that beat UCLA here to see you.

Forget UCLA, I said. Father Ted was 7-0 on our bench. Remember when we beat No. 1 DePaul in double overtime, Father? He was there for that one too.

I went into my pep talk mode.

We’re going to win this. He said, Win what?

I said, This game with your health. We have to keep you strong and keep praying. You’re going to be fine. The weather is bad now, but it is going to get better. We just need to get you to the spring. You just have to take care and make sure you’re eating and keeping your strength up.

I then said, By the way, your hometown team beat Notre Dame last night.

Father Hesburgh was from Syracuse, NY and Jim Boeheim’s team had beaten the Irish the previous night in an upset at Notre Dame. He replied, I heard that.

We visited for about 20 minutes. His mind was still sharp and he knew what was going on. That was a good sign to me, but I decided I wanted to go to this Mass every day and see him.

The next day, Wednesday Feb. 25, 2015, I went back to the 11:30 a.m. service. I had gone to these Masses before through Jim Gibbons, who worked for Father Hesburgh in many capacities in public relations, event planning and fund raising. He was a student-athlete, baseball and basketball coach in the 1950s and 1960s, then went into administration.

He is a Notre Dame institution.

Now retired, he still came to these Masses each day and served as a defacto altar boy, assisting the priests with the various duties during the Mass. The only other people there besides the priests were members of Father Hesburgh’s family.

On this day, I told Father Ted that Linda (Costas) my fiancée, whom he knew, said hello. After Mass I again went into the dining room and sat next to him.

You’re the Godfather of the Civil Rights Act, I said. You’re the one who got me coaching the streets.

He smiled and said to me, I want you to keep coaching the streets. He was still motivating me. That was his mission with so many. He was the master motivator over the years, but more on that later.

He just sat and looked from his wheelchair at the table. I continued the conversation.

"Remember when I came to get a blessing before my bladder cancer surgery? After you blessed me before the bladder cancer surgery you said, ‘Digger, have the courage.’

I always remembered that and keep that note in my wallet to this day." Have the courage.

I keep a piece of paper with me at all times that reminds me what Father Ted told me when I found out I had cancer in 2013.

Keeping that note makes me feel like Fr. Hesburgh is there with me. On this day, I wanted him to know that.

So, I said to him before I left, Father Ted, have the courage.

As I left I just kept thinking he would be OK. It didn’t seem like anything specifically was wrong. He just had a cold like he had before and was a little down. I still kept positive and believed he would get through it.

On Wednesday night, Linda asked if she could go to the Thursday Mass. I thought about it and said, Sure, I will pick you up from work. Linda has a position in Notre Dame administration in human resources.

I still remember the first time I brought Linda to meet Father Ted in his office on the