Tag: Notre Dame Leprechaun

First female Notre Dame Leprechaun at football game appears

History was made at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday.

Fans who attended Notre Dame’s game against Pittsburgh and watched on TV might have noticed something different at Notre Dame Stadium. Kylee Kazenski, a senior at the university, became the first female to portray the Notre Dame Leprechaun at a football game. While females have donned the green suit before, they haven’t done so for Notre Dame’s biggest sport until now.

Here’s a shot of Kazenski before the game:

And yes, she even participated in the pushups that are done after every Irish score:

But with the Irish continuing to run up the score on the Panthers, one had to admit doing that many pushups at once was kind of ridiculous. A TV shot showed that she eventually was just pushed up by Notre Dame’s male cheerleaders. With those arms and that many cheerleaders, that should have been easy.

Congratulations to Kylee, and here’s hoping she’s the first of many female Leprechauns to be featured at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturdays.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Tryouts for the Notre Dame Leprechaun to be held

Here’s your chance to be a mascot!

If you attend a Notre Dame sporting event that draws a crowd, chances are you’ve seen the Notre Dame Leprechaun. It’s one of the most unique mascots in college sports, and there couldn’t be a more fitting mascot for a school with the Fighting Irish as its moniker. While a few have tried to change that, the nickname is not going away. That being the case, it’s time for tryouts to be the Leprechaun next school year:

So if you’re a Notre Dame student who’s returning to the university in the fall and you have a lot of school spirit, this is for you. It’s your chance to show not only the community but the entire country just how much you love your school. And as numerous Leprechauns have shown, you don’t need to look Irish to be one. If you don’t believe that, look at some of the students who have portrayed the Leprechaun over the years:

Watch: Notre Dame Leprechaun makes snow angel by Touchdown Jesus

Who wouldn’t do this in the snow?

While the first day of spring is coming soon, we still very much are in winter. People in Midwest cities like South Bend won’t experience true warmth consistently for some time, probably in May. That means the possibility for snow remains strong, and it fell on Notre Dame’s campus Friday. With the men’s basketball team’s season over and the women awaiting Selection Sunday, the Notre Dame Leprechaun took the opportunity to set up shop in front of Touchdown Jesus and make a snow angel:

Sometimes, you just have to live your best life, and the Leprechaun is doing just that. He doesn’t need to be on a warm beach somewhere. He just needs to do what he can with the elements that choose to find their way to Notre Dame. If that means making a snow angel, you make a snow angel.

We know you can’t wait for summer, but let’s do that a little longer and think of all the good that winter provides.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

 

Watch: Notre Dame’s appearances in ‘One Shining Moment’

The Irish have made appearances in the annual NCAA Tournament montage.

When I was 14, I had the opportunity to visit the NCAA Hall of Champions during a family trip to Indianapolis. It was there when I was properly introduced to the annual video montage that has wrapped up TV coverage of every NCAA Tournament since 1987.

While I had seen “One Shining Moment” once before, I figured it was just a typical montage like any that played whenever the NBA Finals or World Series wrapped up. My discovery that this happened every year was my main takeaway from the museum that afternoon, and I’ve looked forward to it every year since.

Notre Dame has not appeared in “One Shining Moment” every year it has made the tournament since the montage began, but let’s not pretend it’s done something significant in every appearance. Case in point, the Irish were not featured prominently in any montage until the three straight years it qualified from 2015 to 2017, which included back-to-back Elite Eights. Take a look at all of them below: