In my student days between 1960 and 1964, there were many jokes about how Fr. Ted was “everywhere but Notre Dame.” It was said that the Moses statue outside O’Shaughnessy Hall, with finger pointing skyward, meant “There goes Hesburgh.” But those remarks, while being typically cynical for an academic institution, reflected great pride that our president was such a figure in the wider world.
It was perhaps natural then that I never met Fr. Ted while a student. I was introduced to him in Washington D.C. in 1969, when he was in town to meet with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whom I covered as a Washington correspondent for The Boston Globe.
Beginning in 2002, working at Notre Dame as an administrator and adjunct faculty member, I always enjoyed my encounters with Fr. Ted. He usually wanted to chat about journalism or politics in a way that for me at least was almost unique among the people I would meet on campus. He had the traits of someone who was still a “player” on the world and national stage.
Of course, his faith and devotion to Notre Dame was evident at all times, and a blessing from him seemed to carry extra benefits, but also I found him to be the most cosmopolitan and worldly of the folks I encountered here.
Matthew V. Storin
Class of 1964
Retired faculty and staff member
Former editor, The Boston Globe
Matthew Storin on Fr. Hesburgh
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
