There were two college football teams that mattered in the Reusse home in Fulda, Minn., when I was a kid: Minnesota and Notre Dame, in that order.
I had just turned 9 when seeing the Gophers in person for the first time — a wondrous 22-20 victory over No. 9 Iowa on Nov. 13, 1954, with an overflow crowd of 65,464 in Memorial Stadium.
Bob McNamara's 89-yard kickoff return. I can still see it.
It would be a long time before visiting the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind. I was writing columns for the St. Paul newspapers and was sent there in April 1981 to report on the first spring of Gerry Faust.
Hiring a high school coach didn't work out well, but it did put me there when Ara Parseghian came back to the practice field for the first time in years and made a short, rousing speech to Faust's athletes. Wow.
It was a greater campus and a greater environment than I had imagined even in the romantic view of my youth listening to Irish football on the Mutual Radio Network.
I was back for Lou Holtz's first game vs. Michigan on Sept. 13, 1986, which was preceded by Lou's first address at the traditional Friday night pep fest. You think that was any good?
Sid Hartman and I came in from the Vikings' 34-9 playoff loss in San Francisco on New Year's Day and covered Holtz's juggernaut in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, 1989. Notre Dame drubbed West Virginia 34-21 for what remains its last national championship.
