Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 12, 2026 15 A SHIFTED PERSPECTIVE Powlus graduated from Notre Dame in 1997, 14 years after Shields, the latter of whom admitted he likely never would have gone to college had college football not come knocking on his door. And yet he's come to so cherish that academic piece. "Notre Dame will change your life if you let it" is one of the many quotes you'll see prominently on the walls dur- ing a stroll through the facility. It did in Shields' case, and it contin- ues to ripple out perpetually. The Boston product and self-proclaimed "trailer trash" was a 6-foot-3, 217-pound linebacker decades ago who attracted scholarship offers from the Irish and several other prominent programs. And yet he posted the stats of a walk- on: 14 career tackles, tamped down in part by a slow-healing broken foot he suffered early in his career. In his freshman-year questionnaire, though, which he filled out while recovering from that injury, he could already feel how the Notre Dame experience was changing his worldview. In it, he called earning a scholarship to Notre Dame his greatest accomplishment. And now? "We can all agree football is a pretty macho sport, right?" Shields said at the facility's blessing and dedication earlier this month. "But this building doesn't get built but for three very powerful women. First, the Virgin Mary, Blessed Mother, standing atop of the Golden Dome. My wife, Kathy, who should be up here, but she will not come up here. "My mother was a blue-collar nurse. She was the toughest person I've ever met on this earth. We didn't choose hard. Hard slapped us in the face when we were born. And it was born into chaos, but it was a gift. So, we love it when we see kids, like our football players, our athletes. They're trying to do the absolute impossible. Can't love it enough. That's why we in- vest in human performance, excellence." THE FREEMAN FACTOR Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man's "Choose Hard" mantra — inci- dentally — greets the Irish players in big bold letters on the wall as they exit the new, plush locker room. The Keith and Janet Sherin Locker Room. There are many cool spaces with many other cool benefactors besides Shields. … The Eilers Family Sports Per- formance Center. The Dave and Claire Butler Auditorium. The Patrick Kramer Dining Room, where every student- athlete on campus is welcome to use as their training tables, and maybe even former Irish football head coaches? But definitely not the media, which has a tendency to get a little overexcited about free food. The aroma of the meals being served, though, wafts throughout the building during the tour. And you can see Free- man's figurative fingerprints on differ- ent aspects of the building as well. "Coach had a good deal of input," Powlus said. "He didn't let it consume his time. He and I worked well together on that, where it was like, 'Coach, I need you to give me some input on these three or four things.' And we tempered that a little bit and tempered how we were going to interact on that. "But he was very free with his opinions and what he wanted and what he thought was going to be good and really helpful in keeping us on track in a lot of ways." Notre Dame's director of football per- formance, Loren Landow, also had sig- nificant input. One cool detail is a ramp that runs from the first floor to the second level of the weight room, with the angle of the ramp determined by Landow to dou- ble as a maximum training-benefit space. "There's so many great things about the building," Powlus said when asked how Ron Powlus the quarterback might have benefited from something like that during his playing days, when not even the Gug had been constructed. "It's a far cry from facilities in the '90s." But players who experienced those by-comparison austere facilities in the '90s and other former players from other eras are welcomed back. In fact, there are 12 lockers in the new locker room for former players to keep their gear when they work out at Shields Hall in training for new NFL opportunities or trying to revive old ones. FOUR FOR FOREVER PROMISE IN ACTION Jack Shields, himself, never had an NFL opportunity. But his acquired taste for appreciating the academic side of things and the drive to be his own boss gave him a path to a satisfying and suc- cessful life after Notre Dame football. He went on to earn a law degree from Catholic University in 1986. Per Notre Dame's press release on Shields, he was the CEO of Shields Health Solutions, a specialty pharmacy accelerator, until 2021, when the company was acquired by Walgreens. Before that, he was president of Shields MRI, the largest outpatient imaging provider in New England. He is currently the founder and chair of Shields Health Innovations. And a huge advocate of the Notre Dame "four for forever" promise. In 2019, the Shields family helped fund Project LAND (Life After Notre Dame), which helps Notre Dame stu- dent-athletes, team managers and ath- letic trainers navigate life after sports. LAND'S stated mission: "We turn the edge of the cliff into a runway: fast, confidential, and hands-on so everyone has a place to LAND." Shield Hall even has a specific "four for forever" corridor that leads to the academic and study spaces in the facil- ity. Then again, the whole place has that vibe throughout. "There's an oath," Shields said at the dedication and blessing. "Notre Dame will educate your sons. They'll insist on accountability. And most importantly, they're going to deliver a future beyond football. I thank Notre Dame for being a shining example of doing things the right way. For truly walking the walk and consistently proving that we can do well by doing good." ✦ Shields — a 6-foot-3, 217-pound linebacker at Notre Dame in the early 1980s — is a huge advo- cate of the Notre Dame "four for forever" promise. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS