From Carol Schaal '91M.A.
Ah, yes, the annual All Sports banquet. Notre Dame student athletes, forgoing sweats for
Sunday go-to-meeting clothes, shared a nice dinner and listened to people giving speeches and
calling out names of various award winners.
It could be funny, it could be fusty, but the banquet just wasn't cutting it. "The student
athletes didn't feel it was personal and exciting," says Charmelle Green, director of the Office of
Student Wellness and Development.
So welcome now to the O.S.C.A.R.S. Okay, the name is a bit of a stretch: Outstanding
Students Celebrating Achievement & Recognition Showcase. But, oh, the event. Forget fusty.
Think instead of a May evening that truly honors student athletes by using their creativity to
design a ceremony that's fun and festive and funky.
The made-over awards showcase, now in its fifth year, is still dressy -- "semi-formal
attire is required," the invitation reads. And it's still a meal. No booze, of course, but you can get
drunk on the abundance of goodies piled on small tables in the Joyce Center Heritage Hall
concourse: shrimp and empañadas and fresh-carved meats and phyllo rolls and mini quiches and
crudites and, if you're still hungry, cookies and cheesecake and death-by-chocolate desserts.
And you can swoon over the sight of buff bodies glammed up for the occasion. "It's nice
to see them not in sweats -- looking elegant," said Father Bill Seetch, CSC, as he ambled
through the concourse filled with athletes who took the semi-formal admonition seriously.
But the real fun begins as the hundreds of students, now happily stuffed, grab seats in the
basketball arena where they face a stage and giant screen flanked by oversized golden Oscar
statues. And on that giant screen are running head shots of the team captains of all the various
sports, accompanied, to the delight of the audience, by a photo of each captain as a small child.
The standard stuff gets a neat twist at this event. A young woman walks onstage playing
the national anthem on her saxophone. Professional comedian Michael Somerville '94 has jetted
in from New York to serve as emcee. The Monogram Club spoofs itself in a video. Father
Jenkins, CSC, giving an award to Fernand "Tex" Dutile of the Law School, slips in a sly mention
of The Vagina Monologues, without actually saying the name of the play. And Brady Quinn
proves what a good sport he truly is as he stars in a video take-off of the Visa commercials that
ends with Adrianna Stasiuk dumping her drink on his head: "Pouring a drink on the head of
Brady Quinn -- priceless. For everything else, there's Charlie Weis."
Students come up and sing or play guitar. Irish band members face off against drummers
wearing shades and USC T-shirts to determine who has the best drum line. "That's the same
thing you play all the time," an ND drummer tells the USC players dismissively.
Among all the spoofs and jokes and fun, serious things are happening. Following a video
capturing volunteer work by various students, the Chris Zorich Service Award, which recognizes
the contributions of student athletes to ND and the community at large, is presented. And the
Trophy Award, a new honor established by The Office of Student Wellness and Development to
recognize one team for its service to the community, is introduced. The list of awards is long.
No orchestra starts playing to speed things up when the students give their thanks for the
various awards, because the messages are short and heartfelt: "It's just a reminder of how lucky
we are to be athletes at Notre Dame," says one honoree.
The highlight video ending the showcase proves that there is more than football at Notre
Dame. About 750 student-athletes participate in an amazing variety of varsity sports: baseball,
men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's fencing,
football, men's and women's golf, hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, rowing, men's and
women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis,
men's and women's track and field, volleyball.
The video gives them all their due -- from a montage of intense action, which ends
showing a young woman with blood running down her face, to slower, emotional scenes. It
reminded me of the afternoon I saw an totally focused student at Loftus running hurdles. She
did it again and again. And again. To her, and to all 750 student athletes, I extend my abiding
respect.
Carol Schaal is managing editor and webmaster of this magazine.
A list of award winners is available online at http://und.cstv.com/genrel/050306aah.html
(July 2006)
