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Today's Featured Biography

 
Herbert DOWN, Jr.

* 1955 Roosevelt Class Picture position: Row 3-05
* Graduated from Academy '58
* Has attended most Roosevelt Reunions including 2010

~~~~~ December 26. 2005 * Erie Times * FULL-BLOODED IRISH - Millcreek man goes extra mile to cheer for old Notre Dame. Herb Down Jr. is an avid Notre Dame fan. His collection of memorabilia includes a picture of Cathedral Prep graduate Rick Kaczenski centering for quarterback Ron Powlus. (Erie Times-News)
Outlined against a blue, gray sky …
OK, that’s extreme. But let it be known Herb Down Jr. is one fervent Notre Dame football fan.
One unscheduled call confirmed that.
“Gotta put you on hold,” Down said by cell phone from his car. “I’m wheeling and dealing here in a church parking lot.”
Down’s reply sounded shady, but his location was perfect. The Millcreek Township resident was purchasing Fighting Irish tickets from a friend.
Before Notre Dame’s Oct. 22 game vs. Brigham Young, Down and his Erie area contingent contemplated their normal routine of driving “cold” to Notre Dame Stadium. Down isn’t a seasonticket holder, but once in South Bend, Ind., he solicits from a familiar network of tailgaters.
Two days before that game, though, Down had his tickets. Fourteen of them.
That’s 57 fewer than Down scored for the Irish season opener at Pittsburgh. Still, they were enough to warrant a caravan of seven cars, two vans and an SUV for the 6-hour trip.
“I can’t imagine not going to the home games,” Down said. “I think I’ve only missed four in the last 17 seasons.”
This fall, home games weren’t enough for the Lemac Packaging employee and MYAA basketball commissioner. Down, 66, attended every Irish game, home and away. That included lengthy road trips to Washington and Stanford.
He will complete his perfect season with another trip out West. The Irish play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2. Down, along with longtime sidekick Phil “Bubba” Lohr, will lead a contingent to Tempe, Ariz., for the game.
“I’m taking my youngest son (Ryan) this time,” Down said. “It’s a way to make it up to him for not taking him to Fiesta Bowl for (Notre Dame’s) 1988 championship game.”
For Down, sojourns to South Bend happened long before he became a true regular in the late 1970s. After graduating from Academy High School, Down studied electronics in Chicago.
While there, he kept in touch with Ron Vommero, a Cathedral Prep graduate who attended Notre Dame. Vommero’s roommate in 1960 happened to play football for the Irish.
Some linebacker named Nick Buoniconti.
“I took the train down to see Ron maybe twice a month,” Down said. “We’d get tickets to see Nick play. It was only for one season, but that atmosphere was enough for me to become a fan.”
For the next two decades, Down followed the Irish from a distance, part of the team’s great subway alumni. That changed in 1978 when he went to a game with his oldest son, who considered attending Notre Dame.
Patrick Down later graduated from Pittsburgh, Notre Dame’s opponent that day. His father stuck with the Irish.
Down’s weekend trips were gradual at first. A game or two the first couple of seasons morphed into a full fall ritual for family and friends by the mid-1980s.
“We’d go even though we had no tickets and the games were sold out,” Down said. “Eventually, as we went more and more, we met more people and started making (ticket) contacts.”
Now, Down’s presence in the stadium parking lot is almost as common as the Golden Dome. As are his “Herb’s Tailgating” T-shirts and makeshift buffets.
For the Brigham Young game, Down supplied Irish faithful with 15 dozen scrambled eggs, home fries, more than 100 pancakes, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Smith’s hot dogs.
“And that was before the game,” he said.
Lohr has been at Down’s side as an MYAA official. The scoreboard operator for the Erie SeaWolves also has made many a trip to South Bend.
“I’m sure there are people with more (ticket) connections than Herb,” said Lohr, “but I doubt they’ve had the experiences with people like we’ve had.”
Even the most dangerous tailgating experience for Down still turned out to be the most memorable.
Down fell asleep in his camper the night before a game against Stanford. He woke several hours later to intruders.
“They were members of the Stanford band and stumbled into my camper looking for beer,” Down said. “They were stationed in the parking lot right behind us and thought my camper was one of theirs. I said, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Sorry, man. We’ll pay you back in the morning.’ ”
Come daybreak, Down never was reimbursed. Instead, he was treated to an impromptu performance by the band in his honor.
Down’s most memorable game occurred in 1988, Notre Dame’s last national championship season. Though he attended the Fiesta Bowl victory over West Virginia, and even stayed at the Irish hotel in Tempe, that wasn’t the highlight.
Down’s father joined him for Notre Dame’s season opener vs. Michigan. The Irish won 19-17, but Herb Down Sr. barely saw a play.
Seated right behind him was former halfback Johnny Lattner.
“Dad said, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’ ” said Down, who had no idea the 1953 Heisman Trophy winner would be seated there. “He missed a hell of a game because he was talking with Lattner the entire time.”
No true fan is without a shrine in his house. Down’s ensemble includes an autographed Joe Montana jersey and autographed photos of former coaches Lou Holtz and Tyrone Willingham.
None is his prized possession. That would be an action photo of offensive lineman and Cathedral Prep graduate Rick Kaczenski and quarterback Ron Powlus. The duo were Irish starters in the mid-1990s.
“The Kaczenski family invited me to a barbecue when Rick and Ron were in town,” Down said. “I had the photo blown up and had them autograph it. The best part is it didn’t cost me anything!”
Down plans on many more physical and emotional additions to his collection of all things Irish football. There is one stipulation to his vice, courtesy of wife Maryanne Down.
“As long as I take her to at least one home game per year, she’s happy,” he said.

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