You may be wondering how Notre Dame athletics came to be known as the Fighting Irish. To know the reason behind it, we’d have to go back in time and look at the glorious past of the school and its sports tradition. We’d also have to look at some historical figures.
Firstly, the term “Fighting Irish” is most associated with Éamon de Valera, an Irish freedom fighter who arrived in the U.S. in 1919, soliciting aid for his national cause. De Valera was initially imprisoned and sentenced to death but was given amnesty before getting arrested anew by the English. He managed to escape and found himself on American shores.
The future president of Ireland was welcomed as a hero by the Irish-priest-founded Notre Dame, and the campus was quickly swayed into using the Fighting Irish moniker because of the said visit. But the naming would not be embraced by everyone in the university initially, with some alumni criticizing the fact that the school is not even based in Ireland.
By the 1920s, the phrase caught on, having been picked up by the press to refer, of course, not to the fact that the athletes need to be Irish, but due to the distinct never-say-die characteristic of Notre Dame’s sports teams. Come 1927, then-university-president Rev. Matthew Walsh finally decided that the term is the worthiest of all nicknames being given to the school’s varsity teams, and that the administration is agreeing to the ideals the term represents.
Hello, there. I’m Tom Colton and I’m currently pursuing my studies at the University of Notre Dame. I’m a huge fan of our Fighting Irish football team. For similar reads, visit this blog.
Tom Colton 