Don Keough: Putting the Irish into Notre Dame

The geographic isolation allows for a spirit of community and cooperation that would be simply impossible to replicate anywhere else.

Until you experience it is hard to comprehend, but it explains why there are millions of Notre Dame subway alumni, people touched by the spirit of this special place.

I have seen it at first hand. I am fortunate to serve on the Keough-Naughton Irish Institute board, which has been one of the major success stories for the college in recent years.

The institute was the brainchild of Don Keough, former president of Coca-Cola and the leading Irish American of his era.

He was joined in his vision by Martin Naughton, the Irish-based businessman who has helped form the greatest Irish studies institute in the U.S.

Amazingly, before Keough there was no direct connection with Ireland for Notre Dame, one of the greatest Irish brands in the world.

He has changed all that with a vengeance. Now close to 100 Notre Dame students study in Ireland every year. And the Irish language, Irish literature and contemporary Ireland and Irish America are now core subjects on the curriculum at the institute back home.

The football team is even getting into the act.  On September 1, 2012, they will be back in Dublin playing Navy at famed Croke Park. A massive exodus of Irish fans is expected for the occasion.

Waking up the echoes in the old ancestral land will be just another accomplishment that Don Keough and Martin Naughton helped bring about.

They have transformed the relationship between Notre Dame and Ireland, and they deserve all our gratitude for doing so.

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Nster.com