Here are more than 50 Sports Illustrated covers featuring Notre Dame athletics

michael wanbaugh, south bend tribune

Thu, Jan 25, 2024, 4:47 AM·5 min read

SOUTH BEND — The music world had the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The athletic world had Sports Illustrated.

Making the cover of SI carried with it a certain glamour and grit. It was the pinnacle of sports media exposure for decades. While the future of the magazine is in peril after a mass layoff last week, Notre Dame is among the most featured college programs in the magazine's history with 52 covers overall in it's nearly 70 years of publication.

SI's lens found Notre Dame football quarterbacks most often, with eventual Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung being the first to appear in 1956, SI's second year of publication. Tony Rice leading the cover count with four. He graced the cover three times in a two-and-a-half month span during ND's 1988 national championship run.

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QBs Joe Theismann, Terry Hanratty and Hornung (if you count a 2006 commemorative issue) each made the cover twice. Joe Montana, the most celebrated QB in Notre Dame history who went on to a Hall of Fame NFL career, never made the cover during his time as a player in South Bend. He was featured on a 2006 commemorative issue.

The most prolific stretch of SI covers for Notre Dame came between October 1988 through November 1993, appearing 12 times. The longest draught for the Irish is current. Notre Dame was last featured on SI's cover April 9, 2018. The image was Arike Ogunbowale hitting her game-winning shot to capture the NCAA women's basketball national championship.

Here are 52 Sports Illustrated covers that feature Notre Dame athletics:

NOTRE DAME FOOTALL SI COVERS

1. Oct. 29, 1956

Paul Hornung, quarterback.

2. Oct. 26, 1959

George Izo, quarterback.

3. Nov. 2, 1964

John Huarte, quarterback.

4. Nov. 7, 1966

Terry Hanratty, quarterback.

5. Nov. 28, 1966

College football season preview edition (Ross Browner).

No. 1 Notre Dame ties No. 2 Michigan State, wins national championship

6. Sept. 11, 1967

Notre Dame defeats Michigan State (Maurice Stovall, WR).

Terry Hanratty, quarterback.

7. Oct. 9, 1967

Notre Dame vs. Purdue. (Irish defenders Dave Martin and Mike McGill try to tackle Boilermaker QB Mike Phipps).

8. Nov. 9, 1970

Joe Theismann, quarterback.

9. Jan. 11, 1971

Notre Dame tops Texas in Cotton Bowl (QB Joe Theismann).

Notre Dame defeats Texas in Cotton Bowl (Joe Theismann, QB).

10. Nov. 5, 1973

Notre Dame stops Anthony Davis and USC (defenders Drew Mahalic, Greg Potempa, Ross Browner).

11. Sept. 30, 1974

Tom Clements, quarterback.

12. Dec. 9, 1974

Notre Dame falls to USC.

13. Sept. 29, 1975

Rick Slager, QB and Dan Devine, head coach.

14. Sept. 5, 1977

College football season preview edition (Ross Browner).

15. Jan. 9, 1978

Notre Dame shocks Texas in Cotton Bowl (Terry Eurick, RB),

Notre Dame shocks Texas in Cotton Bowl to win national championship (Terry Eurick, RB),

16. Sept. 24, 1979

Notre Dame vs. Michigan (Vegas Ferguson, RB).

17. Nov. 5, 1984

Head coach Gerry Faust.

18. Sept. 22, 1986

Notre Dame vs. Michigan (defenders Brandy Wells, Mike Kovaleski, Robert Perryman, Ron Weissenhofer).

Unranked Notre Dame edged by No. 3 Michigan, 24-23 in first game under head coach Lou Holtz (defenders Brandy Wells, Mike Kovaleski, Robert Perryman, Ron Weissenhofer).