50 Fun Facts About Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame's campus is just outside which Indiana city?

The campus itself sits in Notre Dame, Indiana, an unincorporated community next to the city.

Which Catholic religious order founded the University of Notre Dame in 1842?

Father Edward Sorin arrived with eight brothers from France and Ireland and started teaching in an old log chapel.

What is the university's full charter name, 'Notre Dame du Lac', usually translated as?

The Indiana General Assembly granted the charter in 1844; the first degrees came in 1849.

What sits atop the Golden Dome of the Main Building?

The current Main Building is the third; fire destroyed its predecessor and the library in April 1879.

The Word of Life mural on the Hesburgh Library is better known by what nickname?

It looms over the north end of the football stadium with arms raised like a referee signalling a score.

The campus Grotto, built in 1896, is a replica of the shrine at which French town?

It remains one of the most popular spots on campus for prayer and candle-lighting.

Which president served Notre Dame for 35 years, from 1952 to 1987, and made it coeducational?

During his tenure the endowment grew forty-fold, from $9 million to $350 million.

In what year did Notre Dame begin admitting women as undergraduates?

Women had earned degrees since 1917, but almost all were religious sisters in graduate programs.

What is the official mascot of Notre Dame athletics?

For decades the teams were represented by Irish terriers usually named Clashmore Mike; the little man in green became official in 1965.

In what year did 'Fighting Irish' become Notre Dame's official nickname?

During the Rockne era the papers had also called them the Rovers, the Domers and the Ramblers.

Notre Dame's first-ever football game, in 1887, was a loss to which team?

After the Irish finally beat them in 1909, Michigan refused to schedule Notre Dame again for 33 years.

The 1913 upset of Army at West Point is remembered for Gus Dorais throwing what to Knute Rockne?

It did not invent the forward pass, but throwing to a receiver in stride turned it into a real weapon.

Knute Rockne was born in which country?

Born in Voss, he grew up in Chicago's Logan Square and later graduated from Notre Dame with a pharmacy degree.

What was Rockne's career winning percentage at Notre Dame, still the best in FBS history?

He went 105-12-5 with three consensus national titles before dying in a 1931 plane crash in Kansas.

George Gipp, the original 'Gipper', died in 1920 at what age?

He likely caught strep throat and pneumonia giving punting lessons after his final game, two weeks after being named the school's first All-American.

Against which opponent did Rockne deliver the 'Win one for the Gipper' halftime speech in 1928?

The 4-2 Irish came back to win 12-6; Ronald Reagan later played Gipp on screen and borrowed the line as a slogan.

Which sportswriter coined the 'Four Horsemen' nickname for the 1924 backfield?

Student publicist George Strickler then posed the four on livery-stable horses, and the wire photo made them legends.

Which of these men was NOT one of the Four Horsemen?

Lambeau played in Rockne's 1918 backfield before founding the Green Bay Packers; Don Miller was the fourth Horseman.

Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930 with what original seating capacity?

Osborn Engineering, who had done Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, built it in about six months for over $750,000.

How many Notre Dame players have won the Heisman Trophy?

Angelo Bertelli was the first in 1943; Tim Brown in 1987 remains the most recent.

Which Notre Dame Heisman winner is the only player to take the award while on a losing team?

He won it in 1956 as the Irish finished 2-8, then became a Green Bay Packers legend.

Frank Leahy's post-war Irish went how many consecutive games without a loss?

That 37-0-2 run brought national championships in 1946, 1947 and 1949.

The 1966 'Game of the Century' ended in a 10-10 tie between Notre Dame and which team?

Ara Parseghian's injury-hit Irish played for the tie and still finished number one in the AP poll.

Notre Dame ended a 40-year 'no bowl games' policy after which season?

They lost narrowly to number-one Texas in the Cotton Bowl, then ended the Longhorns' 30-game streak there a year later.

Which future NFL great quarterbacked Notre Dame's 1977 national championship team?

He also led the 'Chicken Soup Game' comeback from 22 down in the 1979 Cotton Bowl while fighting the flu.

For the 1977 'green jersey game', Dan Devine's Irish wore kelly green against which rival?

Notre Dame won 49-19 and kept wearing green for the rest of Devine's tenure.

Who coached Notre Dame to the 1988 national championship?

He left two stars behind for the USC game for being late to dinner, then beat West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.

Which network has televised Notre Dame home football games since 1991?

The deal is unique to Notre Dame, which remains an FBS independent while its other sports play in the ACC.

Apart from football, in which conference do most Notre Dame teams compete?

Men's ice hockey is the other exception, playing in the Big Ten.

The 'Notre Dame Victory March' was written by two brothers with what surname?

Michael and John Shea, both alumni, considered their own song 'amateurish'; it debuted on campus in December 1908.

Who plays the title role in the 1993 film Rudy?

Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn had supporting roles in their first major-studio appearances.

Rudy was the first film allowed to shoot on the Notre Dame campus since which 1940 biopic?

Rudy's writer and director, Angelo Pizzo and David Anspaugh, had made Hoosiers together.

In the film, Rudy finally gets into a game against which opponent?

Coach Devine only relents late in the fourth quarter with the Irish leading 17-3.

Notre-Dame de Paris stands on which island in the Seine?

Before the 2019 fire it drew about 12 million visitors a year, more than any other monument in Paris.

Which bishop began construction of the Paris cathedral in 1163?

The cornerstone was laid in the presence of King Louis VII and Pope Alexander III.

Which structural innovation carrying roof weight to external supports is Notre-Dame famous for pioneering?

Laser scans by Andrew Tallon suggest they were part of the original 12th-century design.

Which English boy-king was crowned King of France inside Notre-Dame in 1431?

He was ten years old; the traditional coronation church at Reims was under French control.

During the French Revolution, the cathedral was rededicated in 1793 to what?

A year later it was switched to the Cult of the Supreme Being; Napoleon returned it to the Church in 1802.

Whose 1831 novel sparked the campaign to restore the crumbling Paris cathedral?

Paris officials had been considering demolition; the restoration ran from 1844 to 1864 under Viollet-le-Duc.

Which relic, bought by Saint Louis IX from the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, is kept at Notre-Dame?

It was rescued during the 2019 fire and returned to the cathedral on 13 December 2024.

On what date did the 2019 fire break out at Notre-Dame de Paris?

Investigators suspect a cigarette or an electrical short; the spire collapsed at 7:50 that evening.

The Paris cathedral formally reopened after the fire in which month and year?

Emmanuel Macron had set a five-year deadline two days after the blaze; the restoration cost roughly $739 million.

A Gallo-Roman temple to which god is believed to have stood on the Paris cathedral's site?

The Pillar of the Boatmen, found beneath the cathedral in 1710, is the main evidence; a church of Saint Étienne followed in the 4th or 5th century.

Who crowned himself Emperor inside Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804?

He had restored use of the cathedral to the Church under the Concordat of 1801, finalised the following April.

Which two architects led the major 1844-64 restoration of the Paris cathedral?

They had made their names restoring Sainte-Chapelle; their predecessor Étienne-Hippolyte Godde was dismissed.

How tall are the two towers of Notre-Dame de Paris?

The south tower came first, in 1220-40; the slightly larger north tower followed, and the main peal of bells hangs between them.

Which high-wire artist walked a tightrope between the cathedral's bell towers in June 1971?

Three years later he would string his wire between the Twin Towers in New York.

Since which year has the French state owned Notre-Dame and France's other cathedrals?

The cockerel weathervane on the spire is the state's symbol, also seen over the Elysée Palace entrance and on postage stamps.

What are the names of the two largest bells of Notre-Dame de Paris, hung in the south tower?

The other eight, including Gabriel and Anne Geneviève, are mounted in the north tower; four were recast in 2013 for the 850th anniversary.

Roughly how much did the post-fire restoration of the Paris cathedral cost?

The 2,000-plus-day rebuild ended with a two-hour reopening ceremony that Macron called a metaphor for accomplishing the impossible.