Touchdown Jesus

Among several funny nicknames for murals and statues around campus, this one takes the cake. It’s really the Word of Life mural, but at such a football loving school as Notre Dame, Touchdown Jesus just works better. This scene shows the Irish Guard, students from the Band of the Fighting Irish chosen by their peers for this honor. Game day Saturdays you’ll see them leading the band across campus and into the stadium. They don’t have far to go at this point in their game day parade, as Touchdown Jesus is directly across from the stadium. I was lucky to host a group of band kids Mattie’s senior year, among them two of these Irish Guard. My principal teased me that week, asking each day how much they ate: “Yesterday….2 loaves of banana bread, 3 flank steaks, two Costco mac n cheeses, a few pounds of vegetables, a fair bit of my wine, and a case of beer” was one such answer. The original (11x14 $425) is available through me, or prints can be found here: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/touchdown-jesus-anne-lewis.html