Pictured above: Roger Valdiserri with his son, Ken, and former Notre quarterback Joe Theisman.
Story by Tim Bourret
Sports information legend Roger Valdiserri, now 94 years young, was honored by the University of Notre Dame on the weekend of Sept. 17-18, 2021, in conjunction with the Notre Dame vs. Purdue football game.
The festivities included a Friday luncheon on the patio outside the Notre Dame Press Box, the dedication of a permanent seat in the press box in his honor, recognition at the game and on NBC television by Mike Tirico, and the announcement that the Roger Valdiserri Scholarship had raised $250,000 in just a few months.
The Valdiserri Scholarship will go to students who work in the Roger Valdiserri Student Worker Program within Fighting Irish Media. Also, each year the Roger Valdserri Award will be given to the top senior student assistant in the program.
The Friday afternoon luncheon was a highlight as many people associated with his career returned to South Bend to honor him. The luncheon included stories from former student-athletes, coaches, administrators and student workers who had known Valdiserri for many years.
The cast of speakers included his first student assistant in 1966, Bill Giles, who told a story from the famous Notre Dame vs. Michigan State game of 1966.
It was one of the all-time hard-hitting games and still carries a “Game of the Century” description. The Irish lost starting quarterback Terry Hanratty, starting center George Geddeke and starting running back Nick Eddy. The latter actually suffered an injury getting off the train in East Lansing.
At one point Giles, who was giving injury reports to Valdiserri from the sideline, called up with another report. “Roger answered the phone and before I could say anything he said, ‘Who is left.’”
The two teams finished in a 10-10 tie. The following week Notre Dame beat a Southern California team that won the Pac 8 championship and was ranked 10
th by the Associated press, by a 51-0 score. At season’s end the Irish were ranked number-one.
It was quite a first season as Notre Dame SID for Roger Valdiserri.
The guests at the Friday luncheon also included Hanratty and Coley O’Brien, his backup QB who had to come off the bench in that Michigan State game and the Southern California game the next week.
Thom Gatewood, All-American on the 1970 Notre Dame team and the first African American captain in Notre Dame football history, gave a touching tribute to Valdiserri and the positive effect he had on his career as a student-athlete.
Other guests included Notre Dame Lacrosse Coach Kevin Corrigan, whose father Gene, worked with Valdiserri as Notre Dame Athletic Director from 1981-87. Jim Hesburgh, the brother of former Notre Dame President Father Ted Hesburgh, spoke of the close relationship Valdiserri had with his brother and the positive influence Valdiserri had on the Knight Commission when Hesburgh served as co-chair.
Among the well-wishers at the game on Saturday was former Notre Dame quarterback Joe Theismann. Valdiserri famously changed the pronunciation of his last name from “Theesman” to “Thighsman” to rhyme with Heisman when he came to South Bend in 1967.
Valdiserri was a giant in the Sports Information field, serving in a full-time capacity at Notre Dame from 1966-95. He was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1981 and was president of CoSIDA in 1986-87. He also won the Arch Ward Award that year.
In 2017 he won the Jesse Harper Award, which is presented by the Notre Dame Monogram Club for outstanding service to Notre Dame Athletics. Valdiserri’s association with the Notre Dame Athletic Department dates to 1954 when he was an administrative assistant in the football office under Terry Brennan.