Saint Patrick’s Day is a time when the world can celebrate the Irish, and perhaps nowhere—at least in this country—does this better than the University of Notre Dame.
When you think of Notre Dame, one of the first things that comes to mind is the legacy of its athletic program, the Fighting Irish. And by mere coincidence, two of the biggest icons of Notre Dame athletics reside right here in New Canaan: football legend Terry Hanratty and basketball great Pat Garrity.
Hanratty was a three-year starter and two-time All-American at quarterback for the Irish, leading them to a national championship in 1966. His school record for career touchdown passes stood for nearly four decades. He played in the NFL for almost 10 years, winning two Super Bowl rings with the Steelers before finishing his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Terry’s son Connor, a 2011 graduate of New Canaan High School, is currently a junior lineman at Notre Dame.
Garrity was a four-year starter for Notre Dame, and was named Big East Player of the Year in 1997. A two-time Academic All-American, Garrity was also the Academic All-American of the Year as a senior in 1998. A first-round draft pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Garrity spent most of his 10-year pro career with the Orlando Magic. This past winter he was named to the Magic’s 25th Anniversary Team.
NewCanaanite.com sat down with the Irish alums to talk about their time at Notre Dame, how their paths ultimately led to New Canaan and their experiences coaching youth sports here in town.
New Canaanite: I know it’s just a coincidence, but to have two guys who are huge figures, if not icons, of Notre Dame athletics, living in New Canaan … it’s crazy.
Terry Hanratty: I was in the financial world, working on Wall Street for 30 years, so I lived in New York for a long time. Then you decide to have kids and you move out. I looked at Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan and New Canaan by far was the best. We moved out here and it was a great decision.
Pat Garrity: It was pretty much a similar type of story. After I got done playing I went to business school, was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, so I ended up interning at a firm that’s based in Westport. My wife took over the duties of neighborhood and house hunting, and knew some people from New Canaan that we were friends with in Orlando. Once she saw the town, all other towns were crossed off the list. And it’s been a great thing–having a son who is in elementary school, I can’t think of a better place to be for a kid who is interested in sports, and going to good schools and competing. It’s like heaven on earth here.
Let’s talk about that. This is a town that rallies around its sports teams like nobody’s business. “Friday Night Lights” at Dunning is more like Texas or Western PA than Fairfield County.
TH: New Canaan is unique. And I think it starts at the lower level, like Pat is coaching now with the 3rd grade basketball team. I think that the guys who have played the game should really be involved in it because there’s so much that can be given to the kids.
Pat, this was your first gig coaching at the travel level, representing the town. Talk about the experience as someone who played the game at its highest level and is now giving back.
Pat Garrity: I was just having the same conversation with my old coach Stan Van Gundy when I was down in Orlando. We were talking about coaching kids, because there was a time when he was in between jobs and was coaching a 3rd grade team. We were talking about how difficult it is to actually go and teach the very basics like dribbling, jump-stop, passing, how to make a layup. When you play high school and you go on to college and then professionally you’re focused on a whole different set of things that are being taught and are important. And I have so much respect after doing this for people who spend time coaching youth sports and at the high school level because it’s a completely different skill set. You’re really teaching a lot about attitude and teamwork. That’s as important as any fundamental skill you can teach. That was the biggest takeaway for me.
Terry, you’re a coaching veteran by now. Your experience is near-legendary here in town. You not only coached Connor, but you also coached your daughter Erin in softball.
Hanratty: I coached Connor in baseball, basketball, football. But my most successful team and my greatest achievement in New Canaan was our 10 year-old softball team , which was the Babe Ruth State Champion. First-time ever out of New Canaan. And I don’t think I’ve ever had another winning team. You know, Pat will testify, when you play at a high level and you take on these kids you sort of assume they know what you know. You have to tell yourself ‘whoa, wait a minute’ and really draw back. When I first started coaching football, I said to myself ‘these kids just want to have fun. What do they see on TV? And what’s the wave of the future?’ Now I went to the spread offense before Lou (Marinelli) did in high school. He was still running the boring ‘fullback off-tackle’. In 3rd and 4th grade I used the shotgun snap. And believe me, most of them rolled on the ground or went over the QB’s head, but eventually they got it. These kids are very bright – they pick things up. They see it on TV and they want to be Peyton Manning, you know ‘split out here, split out there’. They have more fun and they really pick up the game very well.
Garrity: It really is a unique thing when you coach for the first time. What I felt was a big challenge between coaching on the sideline and directing. It’s really easy to fall into the trap of directing everything that goes on the floor. You forget how much you hated that as a player. You wanted the coach to just shut up and let you play. So that was the biggest challenge. Like Terry said, they don’t know a lot of the terminology, a lot of the spots on the floor. Getting them in the right spots and striking the balance between that and letting them play. That’s the most important thing – every play breaks down after the first and second option, and you just play the game. With little kids, I felt that was the biggest thing I learned this year – striking that balance.
Terry, you played for a pretty decent coach when you were at Notre Dame. Any lesson you learned from him that you could pass down to the kids you coached?
Hanratty: I was very fortunate. My high school, college and pro coaches are all in the Hall of Fame. I really had the best coaches the whole way along. There’s more to the game than the X’s and O’s. I preached more about academics than I ever did about football. If you’re not going to do your homework, you’re not going to practice. Ara Parseghian is second to my father as the biggest male figure in my life. At times I strayed off the path at Notre Dame. And you didn’t do that very often with Ara. He’d drag you into his office and say ‘you better get to class and do the work, or you’re not playing Saturday.’ He drum those words into your head and it worked.
And speaking of doing the work and getting into college, your son Connor getting into Notre Dame and playing football has to be a dream come true as both a dad and an alum.
Hanratty: He put in a lot of work. And he had an opportunity to go to a lot of great schools. He asked what I thought of Notre Dame and I said, “Hey, listen. 45 years ago it was the best decision of my life to go to Notre Dame. But Ara is not there any more. Father Hesburgh is only a figurehead now. The school is much different now than it was then. You have to go and find out if it’s the school for you.” We traveled to Stanford, Cal, UVA, Boston College, Wisconsin, Vandy – we saw all the schools. Finally, one day he said he wanted to go visit Notre Dame. So I tried to stay away from it as much as I could. I just wanted him to talk to the coaches, feel the atmosphere of the school. When we were out there for a spring game he said he wanted to commit. And I said “God bless you–I’m all for it!”
Pat, obviously your son Henry is only in 3rd grade, he’s got a long way to go. Hearing what some of what Terry said ...
Hanratty: I want to buy stock in Henry now.
Garrity: I can’t imagine what it would be like for my son to go to Notre Dame and play a sport there. I felt that I was so lucky to get there and play. But to be in the position Terry was – to have the kind of career he did and then to watch his son go and run through that tunnel with 90,000 people – it’s gotta be the best feeling on earth. I’d just be happy if he got good grades and continued to play somewhere. But if it were a place like Notre Dame…it’s such a special place with so many special friends and people that you get from going to a place like that. It would be a thing that you really couldn’t put words to.
Now, Terry says he’s going to make Henry a quarterback.
Hanratty: Yeah, I see the height. I see the hand-eye coordination. Henry is going to have good size. He might grow out of everything though.
Garrity: I’m taking you up on that offer, and I’m dropping him off at your house for weekly instruction.
What a great article. Nice work!