Has anyone heard what that dude from Dotre Dame said? [Archive]

Bzob

03-31-2004, 05:33 PM

Hornung stands by his comments that Notre Dame calls insensitive

By TOM COYNE
The Associated Press
3/31/04 4:32 PM

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Paul Hornung, who won a Heisman Trophy playing for a 2-8 Notre Dame team in 1956, says he has no regrets about telling a Detroit radio station that his alma mater should lower its academic standards to "get the black athlete."

"All that I was trying to say is Notre Dame has to do a better job of getting the black athlete into the University of Notre Dame," Hornung told the South Bend Tribune in a telephone interview Wednesday from his office in Louisville, Ky.

"I wasn't trying to be insensitive to blacks or whites. But when you look at the NFL, you see who's playing," said Hornung, who played with the Green Bay Packers.

Hornung did not return telephone messages left at his office by The Associated Press.

During a radio interview Tuesday night in Detroit, he told WXYT-AM before the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame banquet that Notre Dame has to "ease it up a little bit" on its standards.

"We can't stay as strict as we are as far as the academic structure is concerned because we've got to get the black athlete," Hornung said. "We must get the black athlete if we're going to compete."

Notre Dame spokesman Matthew Storin called Hornung an illustrious alumnus but objected to his comments.

"We strongly disagree with the thesis of his remarks," Storin said in a statement. "They are generally insensitive and specifically insulting to our past and current African-American student-athletes."

Hornung, who is white, told the Tribune that his comments were not racist.

"My God, anybody who knows me knows that I'm not a racist. I'm not saying anything against blacks," Hornung said. "If anything, I'm trying to say that the black athlete is the best athlete and we need to go get that. And if you people don't understand that then they are sleeping somewhere."

AP left a telephone message seeking comment from Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham, the first black head coach in any sport in school history. Wednesday was a day off from spring practice for the Irish.

Hornung, who is part of the Westwood One Radio team that broadcasts Notre Dame games, had previously criticized the school. He has said its academic requirements have hurt the athletic department.

"We open up with Michigan, then go to Michigan State and Purdue -- those are the first three games, you know, and you can't play a schedule like this unless you have the black athlete today," he told WXYT. "You just can't do it."

Notre Dame went 5-7 last season and has had three losing seasons the past five years, the only time in school history.

The academic standards at Notre Dame have long been discussed as a reason why the Irish no longer win consistently. Ara Parseghian, who coached the Irish from 1964-74, winning two national championships, has said he heard the comments when he first took the job.

Discussion had been more widespread in recent years. The Irish have gone 15 seasons without a national championship, the second longest drought in school history. The longest stretch was 1949-66.

"Our records show that admission requirements for athletes have remained constant over those years in which we have had both great success and occasional disappointments with our football teams," Storin said.

Of the 68 scholarship players on the Notre Dame roster for spring practice, 35 are black and 33 are white. Of the incoming freshmen, 12 are black and five are white. If no one leaves the program, 55.2 percent of Notre Dame's football players next season would be black.