Notre Dame Football Helmets Will Honor Ara Parseghian in ’17

Brian Kelly addressed his team on Tuesday to reflect on Ara Parseghian in the wake of Ara’s unfortunate passing early Tuesday morning.  Much has been said about Coach Parseghian today as sports writers across the country have talked about Ara the coach and Ara the man.  In addition to reflecting on what Ara Parseghian meant to Notre Dame, Kelly also noted in the video above that the Irish helmets in 2017 will honor the late great.

Notre Dame helmets will simply say “ARA” across the middle of the helmet replacing the traditional “IRISH” that is normally in that place.  The tribute is more than fitting of one of the all time greats not just at Notre Dame or in college football, but in all of sports.  The mark left by Ara Parseghian is still felt today.  As Kelly noted, a quote from Parseghian is featured in the Notre Dame locker room.  His statue is also one of four outside of Notre Dame Stadium.

Hopefully the 2017 Fighting Irish honor the man whose name will be on their helmets.  Ara Parseghian loved Notre Dame football so much that he would be proud of the boys in blue and gold regardless of their record, but with his name on their helmets this fall, hopefully the Fighting Irish play up to the expectations Ara had for his teams.

If you listen closely to the video, you can hear one player take Kelly’s message on Coach Parseghian to heart.  One player can be heard saying, “No breaking point,” as Kelly huddled his team in.  That comes from part of the quote of Parseghian’s in the Notre Dame locker room.