Former Indiana State Police Sergeant Tim McCarthy announced his retirement Wednesday, according to a statement released by John Heisler, senior associate athletics director for Notre Dame.
Since 1960, McCarthy has delivered a safety tip in the form of a pun between the third and fourth quarters of home football games in order to intense enthusiasm and thunderous applause from the 80,000 people in the stadium crowd, Heisler wrote.
In fall 2013, McCarthy told The Observer that in his first season giving the safety tip very few people listened to him, so in his second season he decided to change his approach.
“I told [my superiors] … I’m going to start using a quip at the end and see what happens, and the following season — that was in 1961 — in the very first game there was a discussion among the referees for something and the crowd was unusually quiet,” McCarthy said.
“So I gave the thing. The message gave a pitch on drinking and driving. And I said, ‘Remember, the automobile replaced the horse, but the driver should stay on the wagon.’ And I got a lot of groans and boos and things like that.”
According to the statement, McCarthy served as safety education officer until his retirement from the state police force in 1979, when then-athletic director Moose Krause asked him to continue delivering safety tips during the games.
In 2013, McCarthy was awarded an honorary monogram from the University’s Monogram Club, Heisler wrote.
After 55 years on the job, McCarthy said the University’s students were a highlight of his experience.
“For years, the stadium crowd never saw my face. After I began appearing at some University and student events is when I became recognized. Students saying hello while walking through campus is really a happy experience for me,” McCathy said in the University’s statement.
“I appeared at a few pre-game rallies, some of the student hall rallies and always at the Dillon Hall rally,” he said. “It was always enjoyable to be at student events because those young men and women are the very best. Always number one in my book.”
