The legacy of the iconic “Catholics vs. Convicts” T-shirt has taken on a life of its own and shows no sign of being forgotten anytime soon. Nearly 32 years later, four Notre Dame freshmen have taken that legacy and applied it to a foe more dangerous than Miami ever was: COVID-19. Out of this pandemic, the “Catholics vs. Corona” T-shirt was born.
On Tuesday, Pete Sampson of The Athletic published a story describing how four of the most recent Sorin Hall residents, Jackson Mallot, Mitchell Johnson, Matt Englehart and Leo DePole, came together to design this shirt. It continues to be sold for $19.95, and roughly $14 from that is donated to the United Way and evenly split between the local and national organization. The students are hoping to raise $10,000, and as of Monday night, they had sold 420 shirts. That brought them more than halfway to their goal at $5,880.
Major props must go to these young men for coming up with such an idea during this time of crisis. If they’re lucky, just as many people will pack Notre Dame Stadium wearing their shirt as people wearing The Shirt. Of course, that depends on whether they and the rest of the student body will even be able to return to campus for the fall semester. Until then, they’re making a difference in one of the best ways anyone could have thought of under the circumstances.