Fighting Irish gridiron great, and two-time Super Bowl champion, Justin Tuck (’05) will be the featured alumni speaker at the spring Monogram Jacket Ceremony. The event will be held Wednesday, April 24 inside Club Naimoli at Purcell Pavilion.
The ceremony will honor first-time Monogram winners from Notre Dame’s fall sports, along with student managers, athletic trainers, video technicians and cheerleaders. Alohi Gilman, a junior safety on the Notre Dame football team, will give the student-athlete reflection.
The New York Giants selected the Kellyton, Alabama, native in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Tuck played nine seasons (2005-13) with the Giants and helped the franchise to Super Bowl titles during the 2007 and 2011 campaigns. Tuck played two seasons with the Oakland Raiders (2014-15) before announcing his retirement from the NFL. During his professional career, Tuck played in 147 games and accumulated 510 tackles, 66.5 sacks, 22 forced fumbles and three interceptions.
In 2018, Tuck graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA. He currently works at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Tuck and his wife Lauran, a 2006 Notre Dame graduate, have two sons, Jayce and Jonah.
Gilman arrived at Notre Dame in 2017 after playing his freshman season at the Naval Academy. After sitting out his sophomore campaign due to transfer rules, Gilman started 12 games this past season for the Fighting Irish. The safety compiled 76 tackles, including three for losses, three pass break-ups and two interceptions as he helped Notre Dame produce a 12-0 regular season and qualify for the College Football Playoff. He was selected as the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week after making two interceptions and recording eight tackles in a 36-3 win over No. 12 Syracuse. Gilman hails from Laie, Hawaii, and is enrolled in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters as an economics major.
Patricia Bellia (honorary), O’Neill Professor of Law and Notre Dame Presidential Fellow in the Notre Dame Law School, will address the honorees on behalf of Notre Dame Athletics. Since 2009, Bellia has served as the chair of the University’s Faculty Board on Athletics (FBA), the principal advisory group to the President on educational issues related to intercollegiate athletics. The committee monitors data on the admission of student-athletes and their academic performance, progress toward degrees, and graduation rates. It also assesses the effectiveness of institutional support for student-athletes. In addition to chairing the FBA, Bellia serves as Notre Dame’s faculty athletics representative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Bellia received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, where she played varsity tennis, before attending Yale Law School. She joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2000.
Rev. Mark Thesing, C.S.C. (’81, ’85, ’92, honorary), chaplain of the Monogram Club and football team, will provide the ceremony’s invocation.
ABOUT THE MONOGRAM JACKET CEREMONY
The Monogram Jacket Ceremony was established in 2008 as a way to honor first-time Monogram winners. Monograms are presented to student-athletes from all 26 varsity sports at Notre Dame plus managers, athletic trainers, cheerleaders, video technicians and honorary recipients. The fall ceremony recognizes student-athletes and support staff from the winter and spring sports, while the spring event honors the fall sports.