Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1506910
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 9, 2023 53 Roberts received awards named for broadcasting greats such as Lindsey Nelson (from the National Football Foundation), Chris Schenkel (from the College Football Hall of Fame) and Jack Quinlan (from the Notre Dame Club of Chicago). It was another Hall of Fame an- nouncer, Bill Stern, who had the biggest effect on Roberts when he was growing up in Chicago. "I always did my broadcast the way that I would like to hear it if I was sit- ting in my rocker, listening to Bill Stern doing Oklahoma-Texas," Roberts said. "I wanted to do it the way he did it — exciting." And exciting it was. "Touchdown Irish!" ✦ Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jim@ndfootballhistory.com R o b e r t s , w h o w a s i n d u c t e d i n t o t h e National Radio Hall of Fame in 2016, said broadcasting Notre Dame football was the highlight of his career. PHOTO COURTESY NATIONAL RADIO HALL OF FAME Honoring: Thom Gatewood '72 College Football Hall of Famer Kevin Corrigan NCAA Champion lacrosse coach Jack Nolan Long- me ND broadcaster Missy Conboy '82 ND Deputy Director of Athle cs Michael Leep Sr. Businessman and philanthropist Larry Dwyer '66 Asst. Director of Notre Dame Bands Jim "Augie" Augus ne Curator of ND collec bles For more informa on, please visit: www.RockneSociety.org Announcing the 7th Annual Knute Rockne Spirit of Sports Awards Celebra on Friday, September 22 Smith Ballroom The Morris Inn University of Notre Dame 11:00 a.m. - Noon Social Hour & Buffet Noon - 1:30 p.m. Awards Program Jack Nolan To Receive 2023 Rockne Communicator Award The 2023 Rockne Communicator Award will be presented to longtime Notre Dame broad- caster Jack Nolan. He will be among those honored at the seventh annual Knute Rockne Spirit of Sports Awards Celebration on Friday, Sept. 22 at the Morris Inn on the Notre Dame campus. Before his retirement in 2021, Nolan was involved in broad- casting Notre Dame football and men's bas- ketball games for close to 40 years. He's taken home many awards as both a news and sports anchor, served as master of ceremonies for countless Irish special events and established himself as one of the most recognizable faces of Notre Dame athletics. Nolan had a long affiliation with WNDU tele- vision, calling Irish football games and serv- ing as a sports and weekend news anchor. He began a long stint calling Notre Dame men's basketball in 1982, serving as the play-by-play voice from 2006-21. Over the years, Jack's voice has been among the most recognizable in the history of Notre Dame athletics. For more information on the 2023 Rockne Awards, please visit: www.RockneSociety.org. NOLAN