Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540994
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 8, 2025 59 But the players' recollections are fuzzy over who ultimately made the pitch to Devine for Rudy to dress. It's suspected that Stock went to defensive line coach Joe Yonto, who in turn got Devine's at- tention on the matter. And unlike the surly Devine as portrayed on film, the coach was very receptive to the idea. Pat Sarb graduated from Notre Dame in 1976 and added a master's degree two years later. His family has continued the generations-long fam- ily connection, with dozens of Sarbs and Hickeys attending Notre Dame — including Pat's son Matt '02 and daughter Carolyn '08. Matt was a walk-on defensive back and special teams regular for the Fighting Irish from 1998-2001 under head coach Bob Davie. Matt was known as "The Tip of The Spear" heading downfield leading the kickoff unit. He earned monograms in 2000 and 2001, wearing jersey No. 45 — Rudy's number. And in the 2002 Bengal Bouts, Matt finished runner-up in the 180-pound class to Mark Criniti, son of former Irish halfback Frank Criniti. In the ensuing years, Pat and his wife, Lynda, have been very active with Notre Dame's Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases, as their grand- son Owen was born with nonketotic hyperglycinemia (NKH), a rare genetic disease. They have raised awareness for the disease and funds for the Boler-Par- seghian Center, which researched NKH from 2014 to earlier this year. In August 2017, Pat was part of the 32-member Core Team for the 320- mile Notre Dame Trail Pilgrimage commemorating the 175th anniversary of Notre Dame's founding by Fr. Sorin. "I walked the Notre Dame Trail to honor my ND family ancestry and to raise awareness and funds for NKH," he said. Members of the extended Sarb- Hickey family have contributed to Notre Dame in a variety of ways. John Hickey, a 1969 Notre Dame graduate, writes the immensely popular Notre Dame Class of 1969 Blog, now with more than 2,000 posts. In 2023, John received the Notre Dame Alumni Association's Vol- unteer of the Year Award. It's an incredible legacy that started with a skilled carpenter helping to liter- ally build Notre Dame. ✦ Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jim@ndfootballhistory.com For more informa on, please visit: www.RockneSociety.org The Knute Rockne Memorial Society is dedicated to preserving and promo ng the life story of Coach Knute Rockne and all he stood for. Through its annual Rockne Awards, the Rockne Society recognizes and inspires great achievement in athle cs…and in life. Pat Sarb, left, and Rudy Ruettiger shared a special moment remembering their time as Fighting Irish teammates. PHOTO COURTESY PAT SARB