Die-hard Fan

Despite growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I've been a die-hard Notre Dame football fan for as long as I can remember. All of my childhood pets were named after Notre Dame legends, including my first rescue dog, whom we called Gipper. 

When I joined the University in 2007, I was senior communications editor for the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association. One day, a colleague mentioned his side role as the IT manager assisting instant replay officials in the press box during home football games. He asked if I knew a few people who would want to be on the field as replay assistants during the games, and as a lifelong fan, I immediately volunteered. 

It turned out they needed responsible individuals (meaning no tailgating before games!) to aid on-field officials during replays. So each game, two of us would stand on the sidelines at opposite 30-yard lines, equipped with headsets. If the officials in the booth wanted to review a play, they'd page the beepers we wore on our belts. 

When paged, we'd step onto the field to halt play, with one of us handing our headset to the on-field referee, who then discussed the play with the booth. Afterward, we took the headset back and returned to the sideline. Simple? Yes. But also, it was exhilarating and nerve-wracking (having 80,000 fans staring at you as the stadium goes silent during a replay is something else!),  and it’s something I’ll never forget.

Over six seasons, I encountered unforgettable moments, including:

• Meeting my Irish football heroes, Terry Hanratty, Joe Montana, Joe Theismann and Jerome Bettis.
• An incident involving Taylor Swift mistakenly taking my backpack, which contained my wallet, house keys, and car keys, led to the police tracking down her security team to retrieve it. (I got it back in the last quarter of the game.)
• An accident during a play in the 2012 game against Purdue, during which two players ran into me, sending me flying. The blow was softened a bit because Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson helped me up. They were at the game, taking a break from filming The Internship. 
• The last game of Notre Dame’s undefeated* season in 2012. The Irish held off Stanford’s last-ditch attempt to win with a touchdown. However, the play was called back for review. It was my replay, and I’ll never forget how silent the stadium went or how loud it became when the referee confirmed Notre Dame’s win. The whole stadium poured onto the field afterward. I’ve never seen anything like it. 

At the end of the 2012 season, I had the first of six surgeries to treat the injuries I received during the Purdue game, which included two shoulder surgeries and two spinal fusions where damaged vertebrae in my neck were replaced with titanium cages. 

Subsequently, the next season, I transitioned to a new role as an usher in the bowl, trading my replay bib for a bright yellow usher uniform. Ushering was a completely new experience for me, and it brought many really interesting people into my world, including Stanley Weber, whom I met in 2015. 

At the time, Weber, then aged 91, had attended more than 400 home football games. He would regale me with stories about listening to the games on the radio as a child in the 1930s when he would sit on his father’s lap while his older brother sketched out the diagrams of each play. 

Weber often brought mementos to the games with him, once showing me his photo albums that contained ticket stubs of every game he attended dating back to the 1950s. I was so inspired by him that I wrote an article about him for Notre Dame Magazine titled “410 ND Football Games and Counting.” 

I volunteered for seven seasons as an usher before applying to join a different Game Day team: Guest Services. Notable for the bright green polos or blazers that make up the Guest Services uniform, this team consists of people from all over the country who come to South Bend to be a part of the Notre Dame hospitality, for which the University is best known.   

While this team takes part in a variety of campus experiences throughout the year, including commencement and the Blue-Gold Game, the guest services team is most active during football season. Team members are stationed around the campus on Fridays and Saturdays of game weekends, assisting guests with directions, distributing Game Day information, manning information booths around campus and providing golf cart rides. (They are a free, one-way flag-down service offered until one hour before kickoff on game days.)

I’m on the golf cart crew, meaning I offer rides to guests before the game. During the game, I am part of a small crew that provides transportation for visiting coaches. We drive them from the stadium locker room to the press box before the game; drive them from the press box to the locker room at half-time,and then return them to the press box before the second half. 

My team comprises four carts, usually transporting anywhere from six to 12 members of the coaching staff back and forth. Since we’re driving through heavy foot traffic, we typically have a police escort. It’s a lot of hurrying up and waiting, but it’s always interesting. 

Once the game ends, we escort the visiting coaches back to the locker room and wait for the crowd to clear, which usually takes an hour. Then we locate all the golf carts (usually, we run about 20 carts total) and drive them back into the stadium to park until the next game. The days are long, but every game brings fresh opportunities to meet interesting people. I don’t think I can ever return to being a spectator during football games. 

So next season, be sure to watch for the green jackets when you’re making your way to the stadium on game days. We’re always happy to help, and even happier when you take a ride with us! Go Irish!

* Notre Dame’s 2012 undefeated season was ultimately vacated due to ineligible players.

Angela Sienko

Associate Director of Content Marketing

Marketing and Brand Strategy