Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? Steve Sylvester, 1972-74 Offensive Tackle Cincinnati Moeller product was part of the assembly line BY LOU SOMOGYI O f all the famous high school football pipelines to Notre Dame the last 50 years, none was as stellar as the one from Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, specifically from 1971-81. Beginning with center Dan Nova- kov in 1968, the Irish starting center in 1970-71, head coach Gerry Faust's high school powerhouse sent 18 players to Notre Dame — until Faust himself was given charge of the Irish football pro- gram on Nov. 24, 1980. The most prominent products in- cluded All-Americans and NFL first- round picks like defensive tackle Steve Niehaus (1972-75), linebacker Bob Crable (1978-81) and tight end Tony Hunter (1979-82), but included numer- ous other regulars such as Novakov, kicker Harry Oliver (1978-81) and line- backer Rick Naylor (1980-83). Yet none had a better combination of a college/NFL career than offensive tackle Steve Sylvester, a starter for the 1973 national champs and then a three- time Super Bowl champion while play- ing for Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. In 1971, Sylvester and tight end Dave Schwarber began a tradition where every year from 1971-81 — ex- cept 1976 — Moeller sent at least one of its football players to Notre Dame. "I wasn't one of those guys that always wanted to go to Notre Dame when I was growing up," said Syl- vester, 58 and now in the real estate business back in his hometown. "It just seemed like a natural fit. Just like Moeller, it was a Catholic, all-boys school [until 1972] with a great foot- ball program and academics. I wasn't ready for girls at that time." He took only two other official visits, and in-state superpower Ohio State and nearby Miami (Ohio) were only "Saturday night visits" because Sylves- ter also was the captain of the city bas- ketball championship team at Moeller and didn't want football visits to inter- fere with his hardwood commitments. After his trip to Notre Dame, he can- celled planned trips to Michigan and Tennessee. 44 DECEMBER 2011 Sylvester was the starter at right tackle for the 1973 national champions, logging the most playing time Topping the Moeller experience was going to be difficult. "Besides my dad, nobody else re- ally had greater influence on my life than Gerry Faust," Sylvester said. "His energy, his morality … you just couldn't find a better human being." DYNAMIC CLASS Sylvester was part of one of the greatest recruiting classes in school history. The 35-man harvest included a future starter along every position on offense, except tight end, plus de- fensive stalwarts such as Mike Fan- ning and Kevin Nosbusch on the line, Greg Collins and Drew Mahalic at linebacker, and Reggie Barnett at cor- nerback. This class had power and speed in the backfield with Wayne "The Train" Bullock and Eric Penick, respectively, and the passing attack of quarterback Tom Clements to split end Pete Dem- merle was proficient. There is no foot- ball player Sylvester ever admired (288:38) of any lineman that season, and earned third-team AP All-America honors as a senior. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS more than Clements. "You knew he was going to do his job, and by God you better do yours," Sylvester said. "He was a quiet but effective leader. You felt anxiety and pressure, but you also looked for- ward to playing for your friends, your coaches and your quarterback." Sylvester treasures the days he lived in Grace Hall and how football play- ers were in the mainstream. "My best friends were non-football players, friends that I still have, guys who lived in my dormitory," Sylves- ter said. "For the past 27 years, about 25 of us go back to one game a year." The only time he felt the team was segregated from the student body was the Friday night before home games when it would stay in Moreau Semi- nary, across from St. Joseph's Lake. "We'd hear the campus getting charged, and the next morning we would go to mass, have the pre-game meal in North Dining Hall, a little meeting, and be discharged around BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED