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1968 — present · South Quad, the Notre Dame campus
The boundary, once: The University of Notre Dame stands in the unincorporated Notre Dame CDP, north of the city line, and this section prints its one food institution plainly as the university's — a tradition whose proceeds flow mostly to South Bend charities and whose steaks, by a pleasing turn, come from a beef vendor in Fort Wayne. The council is Notre Dame's Knights of Columbus Council No. 1477, founded in 1910 as the first Knights of Columbus college council in the world, by the council's own history.
The sandwich and its two birthdays: On home football Saturdays the council grills steak sandwiches on South Quad — a six-ounce ball-tip sirloin on a sesame seed bun, with chips and a drink — and gives the proceeds to charity. The start is dated two ways in print, and both are carried here: the council's own history and Notre Dame Magazine's account, built on interviews with founder John Walker '72, date the first sale to 1968, when council members grilled about fifty ribeyes for themselves, drew a crowd, and sold sandwiches at the next home game at about five dollars; the Knights of Columbus's own film and an Indianapolis Business Journal column date the sale "since 1973." The documented scale is the Magazine's (2021): about 1,800 to 2,000 sandwiches before an afternoon game and 2,500 to 2,700 before a night game; more than $1.5 million raised across the tradition's life; about $75,000 a season in recent years, with a record $100,127.45 in the 2017 season by the Irish Rover's account. The beneficiaries named by the Magazine are South Bend's: Corvilla, the Women's Care Center, the Center for the Homeless, Dismas House, St. Adalbert's School among them. A game-day food stand run by students is not a restaurant; it is in this record because no food institution in the two cities has a longer continuous documented run of feeding crowds for a stated purpose.
Sources:
- Notre Dame Knights of Columbus Council 1477, council history — the 1910 founding as the first college council; the 1968 start of steak sales; the $1.5 million; the 2017 record season.
- Notre Dame Magazine, "Well Done" (2021) — John Walker '72 and the 1968 first Saturday of about fifty ribeyes; the six-ounce ball-tip sirloin sandwich; the per-game counts; the Fort Wayne beef vendor; the South Bend beneficiaries.
- Knights of Columbus, "A Touchdown for Life" (film, 2018), and Indianapolis Business Journal, Lopresti column (10 October 2014) — the "since 1973" dating, printed as the conflict it is.
- Irish Rover (2 February 2018) — the 2017 season's $100,127.45 and the Citrus Bowl sale.