Oct. 7, 2004

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Former Notre Dame quarterback Tony Rice and former Irish tailback Reggie Brooks will sign autographs Saturday from 11:00 a.m.-noon (EST) in the Joyce Center Fieldhouse. Both men will be available to meet with visiting fans as part of the “Notre Dame Experience,” an interactive fan festival for each of the 2004 home football games. The “Notre Dame Experience” combines the Notre Dame Alumni Association Hospitality Center with interactive inflatables, photo booths, autograph sessions, Notre Dame football trivia and stage activities.

Rice was one of the cornerstones on Notre Dame’s 1988 national championship team which went 12-0 and defeated West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl. He holds the school records for rushing yardage by a quarterback in a season (884 in 1989) and a career (1,921), ranking 16th among all Irish players in the latter category. Rice also stands sixth in school history with 4,882 yards of total offense.

Brooks, who now is an administrator of production systems in Notre Dame’s Office of Information Technologies, earned four monograms with the Irish as a tailback from 1989-92. He was a starter in ’92, helping Notre Dame to a 10-1-1 record and a victory over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, a win that saw Brooks rush 22 times for 115 yards. The Tulsa, Okla., product finished his senior year with 1,343 yards on the ground, the third-highest single-season rushing total in school history, and he still holds the Notre Dame career record for the most rushing yards per attempt (7.6).

Gates to the Joyce Center Fieldhouse will open three hours prior to kickoff and will remain open until one hour after the game ends. Admission is free for all “Notre Dame Experience” events.

Notre Dame (3-2) wraps up its three-game homestand Saturday at 1:30 p.m. (EST) against Stanford at Notre Dame Stadium. That game will be televised nationally by NBC.

— ND —