Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? Rick Mirer, 1989-92 Quarterback Former Irish great is making a splash in his second career BY DAN MURPHY injury zaps their ability to make a liv- ing in the game. The most recogniz- able names become public speakers or join the growing army of broad- cast commentators. Some try their hand at coaching, while many more invest their savings in real estate busi- nesses or car dealerships. Rick Mirer decided to follow his passion and do something a little bit different. The former Notre Dame and NFL T quarterback started his own Napa Valley winery three and a half years ago. Mirer was a three-year starter for the Irish before the Seattle Seahawks selected him with the second pick in the 1993 NFL Draft. He spent the ma- jority of his 11-year career in the pros on the West Coast, where he refined his palate and came to appreciate a good glass of cabernet. "Some of the people that we first connected with [when Mirer and his wife moved to the West Coast] were restaurant owners and chefs. If you get around the foodies, then wine isn't too far behind them," Mirer said. "I developed an idea of what I liked. What we're doing now is re- membering what I was drawn to, and things that my wife and I liked — smaller production, kind of fam- ily-operated wine businesses are the ones we were drawn to." A mutual friend introduced Mirer to winemaker Rob Lawson, a well- respected name in Napa Valley, in the summer of 2008. Soon after they teamed up to create the Mirror Wine Company. Mirror has doubled its pro- duction during the first three years and received much kinder words from the media than Mirer got during stretches of his playing days. Mirer and Lawson have released vintages of sauvignon blanc and cabernet sau- vignon, which were both critiqued as reasonably priced options for lovers of the "California cult" wines. Mirer leaves most of the technical decisions to his resident expert, and 60 JANUARY 2012 he career options for most football players are limited when age or During Mirer's tenure as Notre Dame's starting quarterback, the Irish were 29-7-1 (.797) and finished ranked in the national top 15 all three seasons. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Fruitful Years Notre Dame's graduating class of 1993 had a big year in the NFL the following fall. Irish quarterback Rick Mirer lost to his former backfield partner Jerome Bettis, who turned pro after his junior year, in a close race for the league's rookie of the year award. Bettis ran for 1,429 yards and seven touchdowns in his first year with the Los Angeles Rams. Mirer, who won the AFC Rookie of the Year award, threw 12 touchdown passes and completed 67 percent of his passes. A third member of that daunting Irish offense, Reggie Brooks, also had a very productive rookie year that season, rushing for more than 1,000 yards. Mirer said it was nice to see his teammates succeeding, but it wasn't a surprise back then. "That's the way it used to be," Mirer said. "Every Sunday there were guys you played against that were your old teammates. It's not like that right now, but we used to have every class from Notre Dame would have eight or 10 guys go play in the NFL." Four Notre Dame players went in the first round of the 1993 Draft (Mirer, Bettis, tight end Irv Smith and defensive back Tom Carter). Brooks and linebacker Demetrius DuBose were both selected in the second round, and three more players followed after them. — Dan Murphy BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED