The new book, “More Echoes…” (buy: Amazon, B&N) includes interviews with 30 former football players who reminiscence about their time at Our Lady’s University and explain how they parlayed on-field success to their professional careers off the field. Kelly’s enduring motif is what she’s coined the “Notre Dame value stream.” It’s a set of life tools that student-athletes learn in their classrooms, in the locker rooms and through their relationship with a higher power.

Each former player offers aphorisms that reflect their “value stream,” such as:

“One thing that you have to keep intact is your mind and your ability to think. You have to maintain good academic standing. You have to put academics first; there is no two ways about it.”

(That’s from Ken MacAfee, who played tight end under both Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine.)

Kelly interviewed student-athletes who played for different coaches in different eras and had different amounts of on-field success.

“One thing that has been pretty constant among all of the players is how they feel Notre Dame prepared them – both from on the field and off the field experiences – for life after college and life after football,” the author said. “Being prepared is an important skill that can be used in all aspects of life, and Notre Dame does a great job of teaching these young men the importance of preparation.”

BROAD APPEAL

While Kelly acknowledges her book will most appeal to Notre Dame fans, she also got great feedback from readers who enjoy good human interest stories.

Kinnon Tatum, Notre Dame-Northwestern game 1995

“The books have a great education value for young people, as well,” she said. “They show how a good education, solid values and preparation are needed to succeed in life beyond college and beyond football.”

Kelly said her favorite interview of the second installment was Kinnon Tatum ’97, a ferocious linebacker who played for Lou Holtz.

“His passion for life and the game of football is off the charts and his stories were quite captivating,” said Kelly of her subject. “He’s one of two guys in the book who survived Hurricane Katrina, and his journey hasn’t been without some trials, but he’s a survivor and has come out on top.”

(Tatum is currently working for Allstate insurance and is based out of Chicago, according to the book.)

“BITTERSWEET” CHANGES

Kelly was writing her book in the midst of balancing a full-time job and being a supportive wife and mother. She worked diligently to keep everyone’s story current, only to see two of her subjects land new jobs right after the book started rolling off the presses.

“It is bittersweet for me, but that is the nature of print,” said Kelly. “History is constantly writing itself.”

Jeff Burris, a ’93 graduate, joined the Irish’s coaching staff as a senior defensive analyst. Kelly said Burris was “thrilled to be returning home and joining four of his fellow Domers (Todd Lyght, Autry Denson, Ron Powlus and David Grimes) already on the Notre Dame football coaching staff.”

Byron Spruell ’87 ’89 MBA, was just announced as the NBA’s president of league operations. Spruell began his position earlier this month and “will be responsible for the management of rules changes, training and evaluation of referees, discipline and other important NBA operations.”

“ECHOES” TRILOGY?

(Photo Credit: Lynne Gilbert)

Kelly admits the process of writing her first book was a bit overwhelming. With a little time, however, the author felt herself gravitating back to interviewing former players. Now she’s thinking about a second companion piece to her original publication.

“I do have plans to write a third book, but my intention is to make it a multi-sport book,” said Kelly. “I will still include some football players, but I’d also like to branch out to basketball, baseball, hockey, track & field, and include some women’s sports as well, such as women’s basketball and women’s soccer. I enjoy showcasing the successes of Notre Dame’s student-athletes, and what an excellent job Notre Dame does in molding future leaders.”

BOOK NOW AVAILABLE

There are several ways to purchase both Kelly’s first and second books.

“Echoes from the End Zone: The Men We Became” can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BooksAMillion and at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore. A personalized copy makes a great gift; if you’d like your copy autographed, Kelly suggests e-mailing her at LKND93@sbcglobal.net (shipping is free!)

The new book, “The Men We Became: More Echoes From the End Zone,” is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at book signings this fall. The official launch party from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at the Robust Wine Bar, 227 West Lockwood Avenue, St. Louis, Mo.

Kelly is also arranging signings in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, during Notre Dame game weekends and has booked an Oct. 28 signing at the Notre Dame bookstore (on campus) during the weekend of the Miami game. For the most up-to-date listings of signings and events, visit Kelly’s website.

The post Lisa Kelly Publishes Second “Echoes” Book appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Here are the Notre Dame events during the ND/Pitt weekend. Tomorrow I will bring you the non Notre Dame things to do while you are in the ‘Burgh for the weekend!

The Notre Dame Alumni Club of Pittsburgh has been busy preparing a whole host of events to keep you busy during the ND/Pitt weekend this year.

The Club will kick off ND-Pitt Weekend 2013 with a Happy Hour at Tender Bar + Kitchen, which is being sponsored by the Club’s Young Alumni Council.  The front lounge has been reserved for the Club. Tender is located in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, at the corner of 43rd St. and Butler. There is a convenient public parking lot directly across from the restaurant. Street parking is also available in the surrounding area. Please note all zoned parking signs. For more information on this great venue, visit them on the web at http://tenderpgh.com – Tender is an ND Club favorite, owned by alum, Jeff Catalina.

On Friday the events continue with the 2013 Universal Notre Dame Celebration. The luncheon will be held as a sit-down buffet at the Engineers’ Society of Western PA on 4th Avenue, downtown. The cost of the Luncheon is $25 and tickets can be purchased by contacting Jennifer Garczyk at jennifer.garczyk@us.hjheinz.com. (Online registration is now closed.)

This year, the Club is honored to be welcoming Jill Bodensteiner from the Notre Dame Compliance/Legal Affairs Office of the Athletic Department. Jill serves as Senior Associate Athletics Director in the areas of compliance, policy, risk management and legal affairs. She made the move to the athletic department in July 2009, following 12 years with the Notre Dame Office of the General Counsel, including extensive work with athletics issues.

This past spring semester, the Club worked with Jill on our welcome event for the Women’s Basketball team – a night that was enjoyed by many Club members and their families. They are thrilled to have Jill coming back to Pittsburgh once again!

Friday night the festivities will ramp up with the clubs Fighting Irish Fan Fest. Join the Notre Dame and St. Mary’s Alumni Clubs as we celebrate at Mullaney’s Harp & Fiddle with the FIGHTING IRISH FAN FEST from 5:30 PM to 1 AM. There will be no cover charge for the event and they will have plenty of room for all of the ND fans! They are going to have lots of special guests, including the Notre Dame Cheerleaders, the Leprechaun, and others from campus!

Saturday the fun continues with a Notre Dame Tailgater … The pre-game festivities for the 2013 Notre Dame vs. Pitt game will take place in a private tent located on the patio at Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36 on the North Shore, just a stone’s throw from Heinz field. Join the Notre Dame Club of Pittsburgh for their tailgater, beginning at 5:00 pm, three hours prior to kickoff.

They will be welcoming the ND Leprechaun and Cheerleaders for the pre-game celebration, which will be an “all you can eat” event, with a menu that includes:

• Build your Own Nachos
• Fried Pierogies
• Soft Pretzels
• Hot Dogs
• Mini Burgers

Unlimited soft drinks are also included and there will be a cash bar inside the tent for alcoholic beverages.  The Club’s tailgate will also have servers available to help with drinks as well as additional tables located on the patio just outside the tent for overflow seating. (While tickets to the tailgate are sold out, all Irish Fans are encouraged to meet up at JPG36 to pre-party before the game and order off the menu in the restaurant or on the patio, however access to the tent will be limited to fans having a ND Club of Pittsburgh wristband.)

 

Game Day! On Saturday, November 9th, for the 69th time, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take on the Pittsburgh Panthers.  Notre Dame leads the all-time series with Pitt, with a record of 47-20-1. The Club received an allotment of 100 tickets from the Alumni Association for the game and every ticket was quickly distributed after high demand from our membership.  It looks like there will once again be a huge Notre Dame contingent in the stands at Heinz Field. For complete game day information visit the Notre Dame Club of Pittsburgh’s website.

Sunday we round out the weekend with 2013 ND-Pitt Weekend Mass. The Club will close ND-Pitt Weekend 2013 by joining the parish community at St. Mary of the Mount for 9:30 am mass on Sunday, November 10th.

St. Mary of the Mount is located on Mt. Washington, overlooking downtown Pittsburgh and the three rivers, and is a convenient incline ride up the hillside from the official Notre Dame travel hotel in Station Square.All attendees are asked to please bring non-perishable food items (canned goods, etc.) to aid the parish in their November food drive that benefits a local pantry.

The parish is housed in one of the most beautiful and historic churches in Pittsburgh.  For more information on St. Mary of the Mount, visit the parish website at:
www.smomp.org

Tomorrow I will bring you Part II … non Notre Dame things to do in Pittsburgh during the ND-Pitt weekend!

Cheers!

The post Pittsburgh Road Trip – Part I appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Lisa has brought her great “Where Are They Now” features to HLS since January and has turned these great stories into a book, Echoes from the Endzone – The Men We Became. Seeing as it is quite a milestone that HLS now has a legit published author, I decided the only appropriate thing to do was to sit Lisa down and give her a taste of her own Q&A medicine!

Q: What is your Notre Dame story?

A: As the daughter of a Notre Dame alum, I have been exposed to Notre Dame football pretty much since birth. From learning my first colorful word (shit!) at three years of age while watching the ND/USC game with my father and grandfather Thanksgiving weekend, to annual pilgrimages to campus to visit my father’s ND roommate and attend a football game, I really had no choice but to love Notre Dame.

When it came time to apply to colleges, I didn’t want to go to Notre Dame. When you are exposed to something as much as I was to Notre Dame, you tend to want to go in the opposite direction. But, to make my father happy, I went ahead and applied to Notre Dame … along with nine other excellent engineering schools.

One by one the acceptance letters came rolling in. I was accepted to every school with the exception of two before hearing from Notre Dame. In fact, I didn’t get my Notre Dame acceptance letter until April Fool’s Day, and I was so angry with my mother because I thought she was playing a joke on me by telling me that my letter from ND had arrived that day. So angry in fact that she had to open the letter in front of me to prove that it wasn’t a joke.

After all of that, once I got accepted to Notre Dame, I knew that was where I belonged. The look on my father’s face, I just can’t put it into words. My friends at ND used to always comment that every time my parents would come to campus to visit me that my dad would have a “perma-grin” on his face the entire time they were there. I loved that.”

Q: What was your favorite football memory as a student?

A: “That’s easy, the Notre Dame – Penn State game in 1992, my senior year. Everything about that game was magical. It was snowing like crazy and I can remember the officials kept having to go out there with brooms to ‘sweep’ the snow off the field because they couldn’t even see the yard line markers! The pass to Jerome Bettis at the end of the fourth quarter was amazing, but that pass that Rick (Mirer) dropped in the corner of the end zone to Reggie (Brooks) , that was breathtaking. The entire student body was leaning over so far to see whether or not he made the catch that as soon as he caught it we all fell forward like dominoes. Amazing. We all rushed the field and all I remember was seeing Irv Smith and getting the biggest, muddiest bear hug I’ve ever gotten. That has to be the best game I’ve ever seen in person.”

(Photo Credit: Lynne Gilbert)

Q: When you aren’t winning the Biggest Fan of the Big East, writing for HLS, interviewing former Notre Dame greats, and being an author, what do you do?

A: “I am definitely not a sit still kind of person. By day, I do marketing research for a local company in St. Louis. We do readership studies for magazines and newspapers and teach the publishers how to sell advertising in their publication.”

“I sit on the board of directors of the local Notre Dame Alumni Club of St. Louis, the St. Louis Downtown St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Social Media Club of St. Louis. I also do social media freelance work for several clients, and oh yea … raise a family! Busy is good though, I can’t imagine it being any other way!”

Q: What made you want to start the “Where Are They Now?” series?

A: “After the ‘Biggest Fan of the Big East’ contest, I found myself more times than not defending Notre Dame. It seemed to me that the majority of stories that the media pushed out on Notre Dame were negative and that I was constantly spinning my wheels to defend this University that I so dearly love. I made a phone call to Oscar McBride and as he and I were catching up I ran my idea past him of interviewing former Notre Dame football players and highlighting what they did after football. I wanted to push out positive stories about Notre Dame and to show the world the greatness that comes out of Our Lady’s University. Oscar liked the idea as much I did and he was my first interview. It was more like two friends catching up, but it was a wonderful walk down memory lane with Oscar and a discovery of how Notre Dame helped shape him into the man he is today.”

“Almost immediately I realized I had something special, but I never thought it would turn into a book. One interview lead into another and as I completed each interview it became clear to me that a theme was emerging. Even though each man’s journey to Notre Dame and from Notre Dame was very different, each one of them credited their experiences at Notre Dame with playing a huge role in molding them into the men they became.”

Q: So you never expected this to all become a book–just how did that happen?

A: “Several people had mentioned to me that what I had was book material, but I didn’t really believe it. I was flattered, but thought there was no way I was publishing a book. As the interviews started to stack up, though, I started to think otherwise. I shopped it around to a few publishing houses and got a bite! From there it was a whirl wind of writing, transforming the Q & A interviews that I had into a book. It was an amazing experience and I could not have done it without the support of so many, especially my writing coach, Marv Russell. He really pushed me to make this happen. Thanks Marv!”

Q: What can Irish fans expect from the book?

A: “The book features the journeys of 25 former Notre Dame football players, from the class of 1958 through the class of 2003. I will walk you through their days at Notre Dame, experiences of professional football (some of them), and life after football. Some of these you have seen in my “Where are they now?” series … but many you have not! And while every story is very different, they all come back to the common thread that our beloved University molded and shaped them into the men they became through what they learned from the Notre Dame Value Stream.”

Q: So please tell me you will still continue to profile more Notre Dame players now that the book is out…

A: “Of course I will still continue to profile more Notre Dame football players now that the book is out! Right now I am working on a piece about Kory Minor … you guys are gonna love this story! And there will be many more after Kory including a few new angles (a walk-on football player) and maybe some other sports besides football! I’m open to any suggestions!”

Q: Will there enough for a second book?

A: “Yes, there will absolutely be enough for a second book! The list is long of people I hope to track down!”

Q: If you could have a dream interview with any ND player, who would it be…or have you already had it?

A: “That’s a great question. They have all been great in their own way. I was very, very nervous about interviewing Tim Brown, but he ended up being one of the most heartfelt interviews that I did. Some of the guys were very chatty, and some of the guys I really had to pull the answers out of them. Of the interviews that I have in the works, I am really excited about interviewing Rocket. I saw him twice in Miami the weekend of the national title game, and he was exactly the same as I remember him from college. Still full of energy and childhood wonder. I can’t wait to tell his story!”

————–

Everyone here at HLS would like to congratulate Lisa on this incredible accomplishment. We are thrilled to have such a talent on our staff and we can’t encourage you enough to go buy her book for yourself and everyone you know. Personally, I can’t wait for my copy to arrive.

If you would like to read even more about Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became check out www.themenwebecame.com and Lisa’s blog dedicated to the book, www.themenwebecame.wordpress.com.

The post Where Are They Now? Lisa Kelly appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.