Notre Dame football greats rally to support upcoming Golic Family Foundation events

South Bend Tribune SOUTH BEND — Following up, those running the Golic Family Foundation have learned, is a far different challenge than successfully launching an inaugural charity event. As final preparations were being made for the 2nd Annual Golic SubPar Classic, a two-day fundraiser that kicks off Sunday night with a private dinner on the Irish Green at Notre Dame and culminates with Monday’s Celebrity Golf Classic at Warren Golf Course, foundation president Mike Golic Jr. offered a throaty chuckle. “We know where the bathrooms are now; we know where the light switches are,” the national podcast host and former Notre Dame offensive lineman said this week in a phone interview from his home in Southern California. “The familiarity has certainly bred more comfort in just knowing, all right, we got this off the ground. We were able to raise some good money, and it seemed like everyone had a good time.” ESPN held the Golic and Wingo On the Road Show at O'Rourke's at Eddy Street Commons with hosts, Mike Golic Jr (left) and Mike Golic on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, in South Bend. The list of confirmed guests for this year’s event includes former Notre Dame football stars Tim Brown, Brady Quinn, Kyle Rudolph, Steve Beuerlein, Bob Crable, Michael Floyd, Matthias Farley, Allen Pinkett, Reggie Brooks, Larry Williams and Michael Kelley. Jordan Cornette, the former Notre Dame basketball standout and current ESPN broadcaster, is also expected along with Irish football coach Marcus Freeman, new quarterback Sam Hartman and members of the Irish men’s lacrosse team, fresh off the first national championship in program history. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman during Notre Dame Spring Practice on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at Irish Athletics Center in South Bend, Indiana. Freeman and Hartman aren’t scheduled to play golf, but their willingness to interact with sponsors and other attendees jibes with the strong response the Golics encountered again this year. As of Wednesday, a few hole sponsorships were still available through the foundation’s website: GolicFamilyFoundation.com. “It was a lot easier conversation to have,” Golic Jr. said, “as we started sending out invites and talking to people about sponsorship opportunities and all the different things that were a part of this. Now we know a little more of what to expect, and people that are coming to the tournament and being a part of this giving also know what we’re about and what the event is about.” Accessibility and community support are guiding principles in what the Golics hope will become a yearly tradition that benefits local nonprofit organizations. This year’s proceeds will be split among the Logan Center, Center for the Homeless, the Humane Society of St. Joseph County and Cultivate Food Rescue. Thanks to a $100,000 contribution from Credit Union 1, the Golic Family Foundation hopes to boost as many as 20 area nonprofits through quarterly grants in 2023. Sunday night’s live auction will feature signed jerseys and other memorabilia from former Irish football greats such as Mike McGlinchey, Ronnie Stanley and Zack Martin. Those unable to attend may still bid on items via a silent auction online due to begin on Sunday afternoon. “We’re trying to figure out some fun ways to involve the current student-athletes,” Mike Golic Sr. said, “and make that another treat for everyone that’s coming over here but also make it a great experience for those guys that have always been very giving of their time.” The former ESPN Radio host and current Westwood One NFL analyst said those respectfully seeking autographs and other interaction won’t be shooed away from the Morris Inn or the clubhouse at Warren Golf Course. “Listen, I understand if people want to get some autographs, and some pretty popular people are going to be around here,” said Golic Sr., who played eight NFL seasons as a defensive lineman after a standout career at Notre Dame in the early 1980s. “We want to make sure the people we bring in, they understand how this all works as well and that there may be people that want autographs and they’re all cool about it. We don’t have any concerns about that.” The elder Golic, 60, and wife Chris, a St. Mary’s College graduate, spend half of each year at their South Bend home. They also have a home in Scottsdale, Ariz. In addition to Mike Jr., who started on the 2012 Notre Dame team that played for the national championship, son Jake (football) and daughter Sydney Braunecker (swimming) also played varsity sports at Notre Dame and serve on the foundation’s board. Mike Golic Sr. of the set of "Golic and Wingo" during Super Bowl LIV week, Jan. 31 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. “My daughter and my sons have the great connections,” said Golic Sr., who also wrestled at Notre Dame. “They’ve had so many of their friends and teammates either go on and play in the pros or be very successful in the business world that we can lean on.” SubPar Classic event coordinator Mara Gallagher, who previously ran charity golf outings for football’s Russell Wilson and NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr., has known the Golics for many years. They first met through their shared association with the Hootie & the Blowfish golf pro-am in South Carolina, which dates to 1994. “Mara is unbelievable at what she does,” Golic Sr. said. “For us to do this of the magnitude of making a good amount of money, it’s tough to do alone. For the most part she’s running point. That’s been the key.” Along with Chris Golic, the family matriarch. “After Mara, my wife is obviously the backbone of the whole thing, which is not shocking at all,” Golic Sr. said. “Chris takes the calls, she heads the meetings with Mara. I get on (the planning calls) when I can.” 'We see that community' The family’s deep ties to Notre Dame and the South Bend area date to Bob Golic’s days as a star linebacker in the late 1970s. While the Golic brothers played their high school ball in Cleveland and the latter generation was raised near Hartford, Conn., there was never any doubt where the family’s foundation would focus its efforts. “One of the things that people who really love the university will tell you is you don’t just go to Notre Dame in the bubble,” Golic Jr. said. “There’s the surrounding community and South Bend. We see that community and the way it lights up on game weekends in the fall, but also the way that community shows up for our great Notre Dame women’s basketball team and a lot of the other teams around campus that get so much support from the South Bend community.” Mike Golic interacts with Notre Dame fans during the Mike&Mike radio show on location at Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 12, 2012 Rooming with Braxston Cave, the former Penn High School and Notre Dame football starting center, helped broaden Golic Jr.’s perspective on the area. After a brief NFL career, Cave serves on the board of directors at Notre Dame and is a senior vice president at Lippert. “You realize that the community does so much in supporting those of us who come and are a part of athletics, who are students at the university, and it seems like not often enough that help and aid goes the other way,” Golic Jr. said. “Because we’ve called South Bend home the majority of my adult lifetime, in one way or another, what a great opportunity to not only bring back together a lot of people that we love to be around, a lot of former Notre Dame greats, classmates and teammates of ours, but then use that opportunity to help people in the area who we got to work with as players.” Golic Jr. cited his undergraduate volunteer experiences with a few of the charitable organizations such as those benefitting from this year’s SubPar Classic. “Places that we know are doing great work that could get even more great work done with some added funds going their way,” he said. “It’s just recognizing that South Bend and the Notre Dame community — that should be a partnership. That should be a place where that support goes both ways, and hopefully this can continue to be a bridge for that.”