Mother Knows Best - the New Story of Notre Dame: The New Story of Notre Dame

By Atty. William O'Connor

Its your leg on the relay now.*so Lets go, because while players come and go, teammates last forever, at home, at work, whatever the field of play. There

your friends, your spouse, and your children are waiting for the exchange. Bring home a lead, theyre counting on you. So am I.

Joe OConnor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469184135

Atty. William O'Connor

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Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

THERE’S MORE AT THE DORM

Whether Zahm, Stanford, Dillon, Lyons, or Badin, there always was more in dorm life at Notre Dame, like a blaring rock opera, trying to find your dorm after a late night party, or studying for your weekly Emil T. Quiz while the jerk next door kept blaring the same rock opera. Irish dorms were living Claddagh rings, where friendship, loyalty, and love combined for lasting unity.

Dorm life started slowly when I met my two roommates in the command module of Apollo 13, called 232 Zahm, when my Dad recommended a haircut for one of them. Bad start Dad, real bad. No one’s in ROTC yet, and can’t you hear Joe Cocker next door? I spent freshman year with John Gilogly from Providence and Jim Kempa from Alsip. We got along well except when I acted like a teenage dope, usually when Jim studied for an Emil T. Quiz. That Emil T. never made me nervous. I showed him. I skipped his course for Rocks and Stars - Geology and Astrology, one of the three reasons I graduated. Space Tech and Sex & Marriage are the other two reasons.

Rocks and Stars was a very large class. I mean the students were very large. Tall too. Mostly football and basketball players, but don’t get carried away now. There were no jock courses at Notre Dame then, now or ever. I mean, it’s tough remembering that coal is black, the world is round, and the earth has only one moon. Father Shilts was a great guy, he taught us planets and the hardest course of all: eligibility.

In academics, I had my Dad eating out of my hand. For four years, he begged, he literally begged me to bring home a 3.0 for a semester. Could have done it any time, but I wanted to get even with him for sending me to a town without pity, a school without women. I pulled it off our last semester, senior year, and measured it off just right. Right on the nose - the coveted 3.0. Couldn’t have done it without Space Technology. Space Tech got me a solid A, just like five hundred seventeen other guys. What a professor! During tests, if you asked him a question about a question, he didn’t give you guidance, he gave you the answer. He would literally give you the answer!! No matter how many times you asked!! Give that guy The Laetare Medal. Make him Secretary of Education. Wherever his is, he remains deeply, deeply loved. How did they keep this from Hesburgh?

Of course, Father Ted brought us co-education in ‘73. Of course, that meant no more male valedictorians, salutatorians, or top twenty-five finishes. Right from the get-go, Marianne O’Connor made valedictorian, so I sent home the Observer headline: O’CONNOR NAMED VALEDICTORIAN. It was not well received.

Sex and Marriage satisfied religion requirements, and a whole lot more. It was rumored to be a skin flick surrounded by a few lectures, so no one missed the cinematic segments of class. Of course, it was immensely popular because we were all virgins and remained so until marriage. If you haven’t noticed, this book is non-fiction with some elements of elasticity.

For every action, there is a reaction. For every Geology and Astrology, Space Tech, and Sex & Marriage, there was Calculus, Biology, and Statistics. Calculus: the first and final frontier. My first class ever. Almost my last. The administration building was not in good shape in 1970. On the fourth floor, we sat on the south side of the classroom so we wouldn’t slide through the northern wall. Then in walks this guy in short sleeves and a pocket protector, and without a single word writes Professor Henry Peebles on the blackboard, and launches into full metal calculus lecture. It may as well have been in Chinese, dominated by an overriding thought: Mom, can I come home now?. Professors Peebles and Van Meter combined their classes for the mid-term. My score was 43, a solid B on the curve. Then came second semester, and thank God for Finite Math and Professor Walter Langford, a class act and one of the first leaders of the Peace Corps.