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| Reggie Ho is lifted up his teammates after kicking four field goals in the 1988 season opener against Michigan. |
That story was made into the movie Rudy starring Sean Astin which came out in 1993 and has become one of the most beloved sports movies of all time.
While the movie never got a sequel, the story of a walk-on helping the Irish football team was given in the name of Reggie Ho, a 5-5 135-pound kicker from Hawaii who helped Notre Dame to a win over Michigan.
Ho came to the University of Notre Dame in 1985 in hopes of becoming a doctor like his father as he entered the pre-med program.
After two years at the university, Ho decided to try out for the football team as a kicker.
Ho had experience as a kicker as he played soccer and football at St. Louis High School in Honolulu.
Ho was granted a spot on the Notre Dame roster by head coach Lou Holtz and kicked an extra point in the Irish's 56-13 win over Navy in 1987.
But Ho's story did not end there as he would be named the team's starting placekicker as the Irish opened the 1988 season against Michigan.
Michigan came to South Bend ranked #9 under head coach Bo Schembechler who was looking for revenge against the Irish after Notre Dame shocked the Wolverines 26-7 in Ann Arbor the year before.
If the #13 Irish were going to pull off the upset, they were going to need find a way to replace the production of Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown, who had accounted for 11 touchdowns the year before with three of them coming on punt returns.
The man assigned with the task of replacing Tim Brown on punt returns was sophomore Ricky Watters, who had spend his freshman season as a running back before being switched to returner and wide receiver before the start of the 1988 season.
Notre Dame would get the ball to start the game but would punt it to the Wolverines who would go three-and-out on their opening possession, forcing them to punt the ball back to Notre Dame where Watters was waiting to receive the punt.
Watters got the ball at his 19-yard-line bursted up through the middle, made a cut to his left at the Irish 35-yard-line and ran untouched for a 81-yard touchdown to put Notre Dame on top 7-0 with 10:11 left in the first quarter.
After both teams traded punts, the Irish would drive from their 42-yard-line to the Michigan 15-yard-line when on 4th & 3, Holtz sent Ho in to try a 31-yard field goal.
With the nearly 59,000 fans holding their breath, Ho calmly made the 31-yard field goal to increase the Irish lead to 10-0 with 35 seconds left in the first quarter.
Following the field goal, the Irish would be given another excellent opportunity to put more points on the board as Leroy Hoard fumbled the ensuing kickoff after a hit by Notre Dame cornerback D'Juan Francisco, which was recovered by his teammate, defensive end Arnold Ale to give the Irish the ball at the Michigan 22-yard-line.
But the Wolverines defense would not allow a 1st down and forced the Irish to call on Ho again to attempt another field goal, this one from 38 yards out.
Ho would come on and kick his second field goal in a span of 48 seconds as his 38-yarder on the second play of the second quarter increased the Irish lead to 13-0.
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| Ricky Watters scored the game's first touchdown on a 81-yard punt return early in the first quarter. |
Now down nearly two touchdowns, the Wolverines desperately needed a big play on offense if they were to stay in the game and they would get that on the ensuing kickoff as Tony Boles' 59-yard return set up the Michigan offense at the Notre Dame 38-yard-line.
Michigan would convert on two straight 3rd down conversions as quarterback Michael Taylor hit Hoard on a shovel pass for 10 yards on 3rd & 10 from the 36-yard-line, then found Greg McMutry for eight yards on 3rd & 6 from the 22-yard-line.
The Wolverines would face a 3rd straight 3rd down but would come up one yard short of making the 1st down as Boles ran for five yards only to be stopped at the five-yard-line setting up a 4th & 1.
That is when Schembechler decided to go for the 1st down and got it when Taylor snuck for two yards to give Michigan a 1st & goal at the three-yard-line.
After Tracy Williams picked up two yards on 1st down, Hoard dove over the goal line for a one-yard touchdown to put the Wolverines on the scoreboard trailing 13-7 with 8:21 left in the second quarter.
The Irish would begin its next possession at its own 29-yard-line and drive to the Michigan 47-yard-line until a pass from quarterback Tony Rice bounced off Watters and was intercepted by Michigan cornerback David Key to give the Wolverines the ball at their 33-yard-line with 4:11 left in the first half.
Michigan would drive to the Notre Dame 45-yard-line before punting the ball back to the Irish who would run out the clock and go into the locker room with a 13-7 lead after 30 minutes of football.
Both teams would punt on their opening possessions of the second half and Michigan was set to punt after failing to pick up a 1st down on their second possession of the half.
But the Wolverines would catch a break when Watters muffed the punt resulting in a fumble that was recovered by Michigan at the Notre Dame 14-yard-line.
The Wolverines would drive to the one-yard-line where they were faced with 4th & goal when Schembechler decided to gamble again near the Notre Dame goal line and try to come away with a touchdown.
Taylor would punch it in for the touchdown that along with Mike Gillette's extra point gave Michigan its first lead of the game at 14-13 with 4:44 to go in the third quarter.
The Irish would get the ball back at their 22-yard-line when on 1st down, Rice threw his first completed pass of the game, a one-yard loss to running back Mark Green.
But Rice's second completion would go for 23 yards as he connected with Steve Alaniz for a 23-yard gain and a 1st down at the Notre Dame 44-yard-line.
From there, the Irish went back to the ground as they ran the ball eight straight times, picking up 46 yards to set up a 26-yard field goal by Ho to reclaim the lead on the second play of the 4th quarter.
Following Ho's third field goal of the game, the Wolverines would put together a drive that would take up over 8 1/2 minutes to complete.
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| Michigan running back Tony Boles was the game's leading rusher with 83 yards on 25 carries. |
Michigan would begin its drive from their 20-yard-line where four straight running plays picked up 12 yards until Taylor hit Chris Calloway for 17 yards to give the Wolverines a 1st down at their 49-yard-line.
The Wolverines would then make two straight key 3rd down conversions as Boles ran for eight yards on 3rd & 1 at the Notre Dame 42-yard-line which was followed by a 12-yard run by Taylor on a quarterback draw on 3rd & 7 to give Michigan a 1st down at the Notre Dame 19-yard-line.
From there, the Wolverines would go backwards as a holding penalty and three runs which lost four yards would force Michigan to call on Gillette to attempt a 49-yard field goal.
Gillette would make the kick to give Michigan a 16-14 lead with 5:34 left in the game.
Notre Dame got the ball back at their 20-yard-line and went to the air on 1st down as Rice would throw an incomplete pass, only to get a 15-yard pass interference penalty on Key to give the Irish a 1st down at their 35-yard-line.
Rice kept the ball on the ground on the next play from scrimmage as he kept the ball on a quarterback option and around the left side of the Notre Dame offensive line for a 21-yard run to give the Irish a 1st down at the Michigan 44-yard-line.
Then after running back Tony Brooks was stopped after a one-yard run on 1st down, Rice would throw his third and final completed pass of the game, a 18-yard completion to Brooks to give Notre Dame another 1st down at the Michigan 25-yard-line.
Then after two runs by Green netted six yards, Rice ran for four yards and another 1st down at the Michigan 15-yard-line.
Three more runs would pick up six more yards setting up 4th & 4 from the nine-yard-line when Holtz sent in Ho to attempt the go-ahead 26-yard field goal.
Even though he had made three field goals already, the pressure was on Ho for this kick as if he missed the Irish would lose the game since they had one timeout left.
But Ho would connect on his fourth field goal of the game to give Notre Dame a 19-17 lead with just 1:13 left.
Michigan would get the ball back with two timeouts remaining in hopes of driving into field goal range and kick a game-winning field goal.
Disaster nearly struck on the ensuing kickoff as Boles dropped the kick only to pick it up and ran 30 yards to the Michigan 37-yard-line, giving the Wolverines the ball with 66 seconds remaining.
The drive began with Taylor hitting a 11-yard pass to Calloway for a 1st down, which was followed by a one-yard scramble to Taylor, forcing Michigan to call one of its two remaining timeouts with 43 seconds left.
Then after Taylor's 2nd down pass intended for Calloway fell incomplete, Taylor hit McMutry for 19 yards and a 1st down at the Notre Dame 32-yard-line.
Taylor tried to connect with McMutry again on 1st down but the pass fell incomplete which was followed by a Boles run up the middle to set up the field goal attempt as Michigan ran the clock down to three seconds before calling timeout.
Gillette would come on to the field to attempt a 48-yard field goal which would give Michigan a 20-19 win and break the hearts of Notre Dame fans.
Holtz called timeout in hopes of icing Gillette as the Michigan kicker prepared for his attempt to etch his name in Michigan lore.
Finally, Gillette was able to kick the ball which was long enough but sailed inches wide right of the goal line and no good as time expired giving Notre Dame a 19-17 win and set off a wild celebration in South Bend.
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| Notre Dame's Corny Southall celebrates after Mike Gillette misses his potential game-winning field goal on the last play of the game. |
The loss to Notre Dame would be the first of two heartbreakers to start the season for Michigan as the Wolverines would blow a 16-point lead to the #1 Miami Hurricanes the following week to lose that game 31-30 and start off the season.
However, the Wolverines would rebound to go 8-0-1 for the rest of the regular season earn a trip to the Rose Bowl where they would defeat the USC Trojans 22-14 for the second Rose Bowl title in Schembechler's legendary career to finish the season with a 9-2-1 record and #4 ranking in both polls at the end of the season.
As for Notre Dame, they would win the national championship as the Irish would defeat the #1 Hurricanes in the legendary "Catholics vs Convicts" game which you can read by clicking on the link here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2017/11/college-football-old-school-game-of_8.html then knock off the USC Trojans 27-10 in a #1 vs #2 game at the end of the regular season to earn a trip to the Fiesta Bowl where they would knock off the undefeated West Virginia Mountaineers 34-21 to earn the school their 11th national title.
Ho would continue his role as the short-range field goal kicker as he would make five more field goals and convert 31 extra points over the course of the Irish's championship season.
Ho would graduate in the spring of 1989 with a degree in pre-med as he would spend the next four years at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where would he receive his medical degree in 1993.
Ho is now living his dream of being a cardiologist as he specializes in electrophysiology at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
But to Irish fans, Dr. Reginald Ho was always be the man he kickstarted Notre Dame's run to the 1988 National Championship.
(Below are the highlights of the game)
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