Touchdown Jesus~ Notre Dame University-South Bend, IN Touchdown Jesus - A Notre Dame Icon In the early 60′s, Father Theodore Martin Hesburgh was committed to moving Notre Dame to the top echelon of American universities, not just best in class of the Catholic schools. The mission given to the architects was to create an imposing structure, eloquent as well as functional. The library was going to replace the old library which is now the School of Architecture. The South panel of the library tower was going to be its visual signature. The decision was to make a mural commemorating “Christ and the Saints of Learning.” The working title of the mural would be “Word of Life” It would unify the Divine and the Academic. It would show, in a rare setting in Catholicism, Christ surrounded by some of the great theologians, doctors and teachers. The usual suspects: the Gregory’s, the Jerome’s, Augustine of Hippo and the great Thomas Aquinas, author of the Summa Theologica. The “Word of Life” mural was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Phalin of Winnetka, at a generous $200,000, in 1963 dollars. Millard Sheets was the artist, and the way he chose to design the his mural was to place Jesus at the top with arms upraised, apparently anointing and rejoicing over the work of the teachers and doctors portrayed below him. Or so the story goes. It was presented in front of a reflecting pool just South of the Library. You could see it if you were walking on the Southeast portion of the campus. You could see it pretty much from anywhere in the South half of Notre Dame stadium, at least before the mid-90′s expansion. The tricky part of the stadium view was that you could just see Jesus, but not the saints of learning. Obviously, with that setting and that view, it didn’t take long……… Once the ’64 football season started, with Ara’s first year and Heisman John Huarte throwing TD passes to Jack Snow, Touchdown Jesus was born. It was particulary visible the higher you were in the south portion of stadium, and perfectly positioned for the cameras atop the West side press box in Notre Dame Stadium. The nickname caught on right away and, along with the camera and aerial shots of the Golden Dome and Sacred Heart, appears on every telecast. Touchdown Jesus is know to millions who have never been near Notre Dame stadium. It is visible from fewer seats in the stadium, since the mid-90′s expansion, but the next time you watch a Notre Dame telecast, note how long it is before they show some or all of Touchdown Jesus.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:15:22 +0000
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