ND Women and Football

A number of the men I've interviewed have told me that one of their main concerns when ND went co-ed in 1972 was that the student body's football knowledge would suffer, thus making games less intense and less interesting. (Seriously, this was usually their only concern.) As it turns out, they needn't have worried. I'd pit just about any of my female ND friends or interview subjects against any of the guys on both knowledge of the game and fanaticism, and from what I hear, the games now are better than ever.

Some of the best stories on this trip have been from women talking about football games, and two of my favorites were in Houston. One was an attorney who went back to ND a few years after graduating for a football game. And she brought her non-ND boyfriend of about 6 months with her. At one point during the game, everyone's on their feet screaming, and the boyfriend is seated, studiously taking it in, and she leans over and whispers in his ear, "Your behavior at this football game will greatly influence the future of this relationship." And he was on his feet. Oh, and they're married now.

And then I asked Connie Klenke about the greatest ND game she ever been to, and she's like, oh, that's easy. After the 1990 Miami game, her husband proposed to her. Or as she put it, "That's when my husband proposed marriage to me...but the Irish also won the game, so it was a good day." That pretty much sums it up.