Notre Dame alum Hornung regrets saying it needs to lower standards to 'get the Black athlete'

Jet, April 19, 2004

During a recent radio interview in Detroit, former Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung said his alma mater, Notre Dame, needed to lower its academic standards to "get the Black athlete."

"We can't stay as strict as we are as far as the academic structure is concerned because we we've got to get the Black athlete," said Hornung, who played for the Green Bay Packers. "We must get the Black athlete if we're going to compete."

Notre Dame's football team went 5-7 last season and has had three losing seasons in the last five years, the only time in school history. The academic standards at Notre Dame have long been discussed as a reason that the Irish no longer win consistently.

Hornung later expressed regret for his comments. "I was wrong," he told the Associated Press. "What I should have said is fox" all athletes it is really tough to get into Notre Dame."

Notre Dame spokesman Matthew Storin said, "We strongly disagree with the thesis of his remarks. They are generally insensitive and specifically insulting to our past and current African-American student-athletes."

Hornung, who is part of the Westwood One Radio team that broadcasts Notre Dame games, said he had not talked with anyone from the university, but he had heard the school's response. "I don't know if it was insulting, I would say insensitive. It was insensitive because I didn't include the White athletes," he said.

Of the 68 scholarship players on the Notre Dame roster for spring practice, 35 are Black and 33 are White. Of the incoming freshmen, 12 are Black and 5 are White. If no one leaves the program, 55.2 percent of Notre Dame's football players next season would be Black.