I wanted to do a quick play off of Nick’s reference to my time I spend every year doing the boxing at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
This is my 38th year of coaching and the 44th year I’ve been involved in the Bengal Bouts at Notre Dame.
Amazing program. Talk about a story. Founded by my mentor and Godfather, Dominic J. “Nappy” Napolitano and Knute Rockne in 1931. All of the proceeds from the boxing tournaments over all these years have gone to the Missions of the Holy Cross Fathers in Bangladesh (formerly known as Bengal, thus the Bengal Bouts).
Last year we gave over $100,000 to the Missions bringing the total gifts well over $1 Million.
This year marks the 82nd Annual Bengal Bout Tournament; it’s hard to believe I’ve been involved in well over half of all these years.
When I started boxing in 1968 as a freshman, there were about 40 boxers total. This year over 350 men signed up for boxing in the fall and 260 of them are back for the tournament going on in a few weeks. There are so many boxers that we now go four different days with two rings going at the same time for the first two nights.
Nappy’s Mantra: STRONG BODIES FIGHT SO THAT WEAK BODIES MAY BE NOURISHED. This was my first real example of the power of a SIMPLE MESSAGE.
More from Siberia later.
