Ara Parseghian
Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame
Notre Dame
Sugar Bowl: 1973
Inducted: 2024
College Football Hall of Fame coach Ara Parseghian made one of the most memorable play calls in college football history. With his undefeated Notre Dame squad clinging to a 24-23 lead over undefeated Alabama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl, the Fighting Irish coach shocked everyone when he opted to pass out of his own end zone on a third-and-6 play with 2:12 to go. Tom Clements’ 36-yard pass was completed to Robin Weber, a backup tight end who hadn’t caught a pass all season, as Notre Dame clinched the Sugar Bowl victory and the national championship. Parseghian, an Ohio product, is credited with returning the Fighting Irish to national prominence after he was hired in 1964. In 11 years at the helm of the program, he posted a 95-17-4 record, winning a pair of national championships, placing in the Associated Press Top-10 nine times, and never finishing lower than No. 14. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980, and he passed away in 2017 at the age of 94.
