Slightly before 6:57 p.m. Sunday evening, Notre Dame fans who gathered in front of Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore for The Shirt unveiling ceremony caught their first glimpse of The Shirt 2015. This year’s Shirt is green and features an image of two football helmets on the front and the words “Here come the Irish,” along with a picture of a running football player on the back.
Former Indiana State Police Sgt. Tim McCarthy, who retired this year from his role giving safety tips at home football games, introduced the new design with his traditional catchphrase, “May I have your attention, please.”
“May I have your attention, please,” he said. “This is Tim McCarthy for the Indiana State Police. Irish fans, today’s unveiling of The Shirt marks a Notre Dame tradition that is worn with great pride. The best part is, the more The Shirt is worn, the better it looks, and the better you look. And remember, today it’s a little bit chilly, but wearing this shirt makes you look hot.”
In addition to McCarthy, several other prominent Notre Dame figures participated in the ceremony. Director of Media Productions for Fighting Irish Digital Media Jack Nolan emceed the event, and Notre Dame football public address announcer Mike Collins and former Irish starting quarterback Ron Powlus both spoke briefly before The Shirt was revealed.
“There’s nothing that unites the University like The Shirt does on game day,” Powlus, current director of player development for the football team, said.
Nolan added that The Shirt is “the largest selling piece of collegiate athletic apparel in the world.”
Nolan said since its debut in 1990, The Shirt has raised over 8 million in proceeds, which each year are split between The Shirt Charity, student clubs and organizations and the Rector Fund.
According to The Shirt’s website, this year marks the 26th year of The Shirt and the 27th Shirt — two Shirts were released the first year. This year’s design, created by a small team of students who were present onstage at the ceremony, has a similar fabric to last year’s Shirt.
Accompanying the actual unveiling of The Shirt were a number of performances from campus groups, including the Glee Club, the a cappella group Harmonia, the Irish Dance team, the Juggling Club, Pom Squad, the Swing Club, AcoustiCafé performers, the bagpipe band and the marching band.
The Glee Club, Harmonia and the two bands performed traditional game day songs together for the crowd to commemorate the unveiling.
Also present at ceremony were several vendors from the South Bend community such as Let’s Spoon and Barnaby’s Pizza, both of which gave away free food samples. Among the more popular attractions at the event was a number of Coca-Cola machines, which custom-printed an individual’s name onto the side of 7.5-oz. Coke cans.
The unveiling ceremony, which was part of the Notre Dame Day celebrations, was broadcast live on notredameday.nd.edu for those unable to attend the event.
The Shirt will be available for purchase at the Notre Dame Bookstore for the coming football season.
