On January 2, 2006, the Fighting Irish challenged the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona. The Buckeyes prevailed 34-20, but the event was not a complete loss for Notre Dame. After game-related expenses were paid, $11.2 million in bowl revenue was available, which Father John Jenkins chose to allocate to key academic priorities. Major beneficiaries included student financial aid ($5 million), equipment for the new Jordan Hall of Science ($2.7 million), and the Libraries ($1.5 million).
This impressive and unexpected gift was used by the Libraries to buy books, primarily in the historical disciplines, and also electronic databases for the benefit of engineering and the sciences. The catalog records for the books include this note: “Made available by: 2005/06 University of Notre Dame Football Team and the 35th Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, January 2, 2006, Tempe, AZ.” A search of the phrase “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl” in the ND Catalog shows the 9,168 volumes purchased with that special funding.
Library staff worked with Professor Robert Sedlack of the Department of Art, Art History, and Design on a class assignment for his advanced Graphic Design students. They were tasked with developing imaginative ways for the Libraries to show appreciation for this generous gift, and responded with a wide array of creative suggestions. These included a customized football jersey, a floor mat resembling a playing field, and both bookmarks and bookplates. The Libraries gave $200 prizes to two of the students, Nina Pressly and James Rudy, and smaller cash awards to Victoria Lane and Julie Ruffin. Several of the designs were used to produce bookmarks, which were available at all library service desks for the next few years. The images accompanying this article are the winning designs from those students.
Notre Dame has long been fortunate as one of the few schools that do not need to subsidize their athletic programs. The distribution of this largesse from bowl proceeds is an extraordinary example of how academics and sports are intertwined on this campus.
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