Sept. 16, 2008

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame Monogram Club has presented an honorary monogram to Beth Holtz, wife of former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz.

The presentation was made Saturday morning by Monogram Club president Marc Kelly, Monogram Club executive director Jim Fraleigh and second vice president Dick Nussbaum following a Mass that was a part of the Lou Holtz sculpture dedication.

Lou and Beth Holtz founded the Holtz Charitable Foundation in 1998. The program is committed to promoting Christianity, education and charity and has awarded grants to many non-profit organizations that support its mission. The Holtz Charitable Foundation has provided important funding to several causes including trade scholarships, homeless centers and Christian ministries. The homeless shelter in Columbia, S.C., was named after Lou and Beth Holtz in December 2003, and both have been instrumental in helping the Center for the Homeless in South Bend.

The Holtz Charitable Foundation is also a part of the Notre Dame Coaches for Charity fundraiser, an annual event that also benefits Hannah & Friends and the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation.

Lou Holtz spent 11 seasons at Notre Dame and guided the Irish to an overall record of 100-30-2 as well to nine straight New Year’s Day bowl games. Five of his Notre Dame teams finished at least sixth in the final Associated Press Poll. He ranks second to Knute Rockne in total football coaching victories. In addition to having a sculpture dedicated in his honor last weekend, he will be an ’08 inductee to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Among the approximately 200 recipients of honorary monograms include former Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, former Notre Dame president Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C, and former Irish football coaches Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz.

— ND —