Finally catching The Rocket
By TED FOX
Fox Sports ... Almost
September 16th, 1989. Notre Dame at Michigan. Where were you that afternoon?
I was in the car, coming home from Meijer with my mom, and we started listening to the game. I lived half an hour away from Ann Arbor, so I knew the rainy weather outside the car window must also have been hanging over that stadium I heard being described on the radio.
We turned right onto a street about two miles from my house. Michigan had just scored, so they, of course, had to kick it off.
On any other day, that would've been a simple task.
"Ismail down around the 5-yard line, the kick will come down, and Raghib will take it, takes it at the 12. 15, 20, 25. He's at the 30! Afterburners are on! He's gone!
"40, 45, 50! Down the sideline, at the 35, a right side goal line! At the 10! The 5! A touchdown, Irish!
That was the Westwood One radio call of one of Raghib "The Rocket" Ismail's two kickoff returns for touchdowns that day.
Sitting down to write this, I can't say that I remembered the date, or even the season, when he brought the Big House to its knees twice in one game, leading Notre Dame to a 24-19 win.
I just remember the moment.
Like so many other Irish fans at this school, my consciousness of Notre Dame football hadn't fully developed by the 1988 National Championship. Sure, I had made my construction paper Fiesta Bowl sign to cheer from my living room, but I don't think I really got it then.
But then there was that day in September of 1989.
Flash forward 12 1/2 to last Wednesday and a slow-forming line at the Notre Dame Bookstore.
After that game against the Wolverines, the Rocket stayed at Notre Dame for about two more years.
He went on to play two years in the Canadian Football League before spending the last eight seasons in the NFL, catching 363 passes for 5,295 yards.
Now, everyone was in line waiting for him to show up for an autograph session promoting his new CD, "The Reign Cometh".
Yes, I did say new CD. The sign said that if you wanted Rocket's autograph, it had to be signed on a copy of the first single off the album entitled "Bounce".
Those of us in line were definitely skeptical of having to buy music to get an autograph, but it didn't matter. We were going to meet the Rocket.
One of the guys behind me in line said exactly what I had been thinking: Notre Dame football hadn't become Notre Dame football until we saw, or heard, number 25 tearing down the sidelines.
Someone else came up to the line and asked that guy what everyone was waiting for. He said, "The Rocket." His friend replied: "Who?"
We shook our heads in disbelief.
To a generation of Notre Dame fans, our generation, this was the one player talked about almost as if he was a myth, no one quite sure if he had really done everything we thought he did.
Once he started signing, I noticed that Ismail himself didn't heed the sign that said he would only sign his CD. One person asked, with a little hesitation, if he could sign a helmet.
The man who etched Notre Dame football in all our minds put that hesitation at ease by acting like there was nothing he'd rather do than autograph a Notre Dame mini-helmet.
When my turn came, I had to ask him about my second main memory of Irish football, the 10-9 loss to Colorado in the 1991 Orange Bowl.
I told him I remembered thinking, as the Buffaloes punting unit came on the field, the only way the Irish could win in those waning moments would be if he took the punt all the way to the house.
But who returns a punt in the last minute to win the Orange Bowl? The Rocket would have, had it not been for a clip the entire Notre Dame nation still can't believe.
"The Phantom Call," he said to me, almost laughing now at what must have been the worst way to end your final game in blue and gold.
He shook everyone's hand before and after he signed, looked each person in the eyes, smiled, and said how much he appreciated you coming out to support him.
Some might say that's just a way to sell more CDs, but I don't think so.
And wasn't that strange—the Rocket appreciating us? All we did was buy a six-dollar CD.
He brought us to Notre Dame.
Contact Ted Fox at tfox@nd.edu. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Oberver.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, April 16, 2002
