Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 23, 2024 5 MAKING HISTORY When Luke Talich intercepted the pass against Florida State and ran it back for a touchdown, was he the first player from Wyoming to score a touchdown for Notre Dame? Are there any states that have not had a representative score a point for Notre Dame in football if that stat is kept? Chris Casa Santa Goodlettsville, Tenn. Chris, the answer to your question is, "Yes." Talich became the first player from the state of Wyoming to score a touchdown for Notre Dame. In fact, Talich became only the second player from the state to ever touch the football for the Irish. He joined former Irish fullback Steve Dover, who recorded 3 carries during the 1977 national championship season. Regarding your second question, there is no official list for that. The late Lou Somogyi — who was a walking encyclopedia for all things Notre Dame — would have been or go-to guy for that one. If he didn't know the answer, he would've done the research to figure it out. FAN FORUM BE HEARD! Send your letters to: sdowney@comanpub.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 Former Irish head coach Gerry Faust (1981-85) passed away Nov. 11 at the age of 89. After the news broke, Irish fans paid their respects to Faust on our message board at BlueandGold.com. Rockne1988: RIP. A true ND man, and many that were on our last title team he recruited. Unclemikey: Here is my Gerry story. 1981. One of my best friends was on the practice squad, a la Rudy. No chance in hell that he was ever going to dress for a game. Blew his knee out in a practice and wound up in St. Joe's hospital for surgery. It was a Friday night. There was a home game the next day. A few of us were hanging in Kurt's hospital room screwing around when in walks Coach Faust. He sits down and shoots the sh-- with us for about 30 minutes, then takes off. Again, the night before a game, taking the time to visit a player who would never see the field. He may have not been a great coach, at least at that level, but the dude was an awesome man! I will never forget that night. socdoc24: Very true. I knew a man who had severe cerebral palsy, could not verbalize, and was wheelchair bound, living at home on the near west side in South Bend. His greatest joy was watching football on TV. He had wonderful parents who kept him at home. Somehow, Gerry found out about him and would visit him at home while Gerry was coaching at ND. After Gerry left, he would continue to visit campus and generally made it part of his trip to visit the family and Michael. Never any PR and it was truly genuine. SilentBanjo: Met him once at Wrigley Field, and he came off like a genuine fan, excited to see Harry sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." We had a pleas- ant chat for a couple of innings. I searched for something positive to say about his time at Notre Dame and said how delighted I was that he snapped our then losing skein against USC. He seemed to really appreciate that. When he left, he smiled right at me, gave a firm handshake, and said how much he enjoyed our talk. The guy just oozed personability. I certainly can see why he was such a good recruiter. R.I.P. Gerry, I seriously doubt whether anyone ever loved Notre Dame more than he did. Forget what paper it was in, but remember him saying that he couldn't root against Notre Dame even if he were coaching against them. Irish92: He sent my brother a charm that was blessed in holy water in Europe after finding out he was battling leukemia. I still have that. What a man. aNDyIrish: My Gerry story: In May 1982, I was graduating from ND Law School. I was from Ohio, had followed Coach Faust's outstanding career at Moeller, and I was going to move to Cincinnati after graduation. So, I took my ticket stub to the football office thinking I could ask for his autograph, drop it off, and pick it up later. But the secretary said, "Hold on, he's here now and I'll ask him to do it now," and took it back to his office. I thought, that's great. … Then she comes back and says, "He wants to talk with you." OMG, I couldn't believe it. And she walked me back to his office, where he said, "Hi Andy, come on in!" And we talked for 20 minutes about my plans, Moeller football, Cincinnati, what- ever. I was in total fanboy mode. What a great guy. Oh yeah, he signed the ticket stub. A precious memory to this day! RIP GERRY FAUST. SDS123: My mom was 90 when we went to the Stanford game and Charlie Weis was coaching. We met Coach Faust at the stadium and he took my mom on the elevator with him and entertained her for over 30 minutes. He was a wonderful guy who loved his Madonna blue school and team. By the way, Mom stood for a big portion of the game and no one dared to tell her to sit down. She cheered mightily, loudly and often. Rest well, Coach Faust. God bless you and your loved ones. GraceHall4D: Coach Faust always had time for people and he genuinely cared about his players, fans, alumni, and he did it with a passion and dedication few could muster. He came to the dorms to speak to students and never carried him- self with a haughty or detached air. That said, he was overmatched by the job, one Father Hesburgh offered with his heart rather than his head. May he RIP, I was glad to have shaken his hand and shared a brief word like so many others in his life. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! Use Promo Code Join50 To SAVE 50% off your first year! Sophomore safety Luke Talich returned his first career interception 79 yards for a touchdown versus Florida State, making him the first-ever player from Wyoming to score a touchdown for Notre Dame. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER