If one ever assembled an All-Underrated Notre Dame football team — highly productive individuals who never received even honorable mention All-America notice — 1975-78 linebacker Steve Heimkreiter would be a popular choice.
The Cincinnati native “Kritter” passed away in Fort Thomas, Kentucky on Dec. 3 after a battle with cancer.
His 398 career tackles — not including the stats from three bowl games he played in — are fourth on the all-time Notre Dame chart, behind Bob Crable (521), Bob Golic (479) and Manti Te’o (437), with only the bowl games for Te'o included from the postseason.
Heimkreiter is not enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame like Crable, did not have a prominent 14-year NFL career (three as a Pro Bowl pick) like Golic, and was nowhere as decorated with individual accolades like Te’o as a senior.
What he epitomized was the vintage blue-collar toughness and overall soundness carried on by today’s Fighting Irish vying for a national title that he experienced as a junior.
A stalwart at Roger Bacon High in the Queen City, the fearless Heimkreiter told us in an interview 12 years ago that one of his most unsettling moments was telling Ohio State's combustible head coach Woody Hayes that he was going to decide between Notre Dame and Tennessee. Heimkreiter was shocked at the response.
“For God’s sake, son, if you have to choose, go to Notre Dame,” Hayes replied.
Heimkreiter even had a “higher power” — namely his mother, Sherry, who would pass away a year after his Notre Dame graduation in 1979 — influencing him.
“She used to play me the Notre Dame Fight Song every morning before I would go to school,” he recalled.
He chuckled about how recruiting was more of a Wild West than today, which included his nephew, tight end Alex Welch, signing with Notre Dame in head coach Brian Kelly’s first Irish class back in 2010.
“When I was recruited, there used to be schools that would wait for me outside and drive me to school,” Heimkreiter said. “I used to have to choose what car to go to and what coach would drive me. It was a lot more lenient than it is now.”
• Signed in new head coach Dan Devine’s first class in 1975, Heimkreiter played sparingly as a freshman before getting injured and was overshadowed by fellow freshman Golic, whose 82 tackles that year are still the standard by a Notre Dame freshman.
• Teaming with Golic in 1976 on a Notre Dame defense that set a school record for consecutive quarters not allowing a touchdown (21), Heimkreiter’s 118 tackles led the team, while Golic had 99.
• For the 1977 national champs, All-Americans Golic and end Ross Browner had 146 and 104, respectively, while Heimkreiter had 98. In the Cotton Bowl, he added an interception in the 38-10 Cotton Bowl romp over No. 1 Texas to set up a 29-yard touchdown drive, and almost had another on the next series (see 33:24 and 37:00 marks here).
• As a senior in 1978, Heimkreiter’s 160 stops set a single season school record that has been topped only by Crable twice, with 187 in 1979 and 167 in 1981.
Not blessed with prototype size or speed, Heimkreiter leaned on a combination of instincts and ferocity.
“I could read the offense pretty quickly — and that first step is the key,” he said. “If you make that a false step, you’re done. I also always tried to pride myself on being the hardest hitter on the team, and I liked to be feared a little bit.”
Selected by the Baltimore Colts with the 197th pick in 1979, Heimkreiter suffered a career-ending injury his fourth year in 1982 during an exhibition game that spiraled into his darkest days.
“I made a tackle and got knocked out instantly,” Heimkreiter said. “Back then they had the Nike air helmets, and there wasn’t proper air in my helmet. I ended up having a seizure that next Wednesday. I wound up with epilepsy, and basically the doctor said I couldn’t play anymore.
“… I was only 25 years old and didn’t know what I was going to do for a couple of years. I didn’t work, and it was really hard to let it go. It took me a couple of years to get over it. I had a five- or six-year period where I had seizures all the time. There are some myths about it, and it affects different people in different ways, but we have it under control… I live a healthy life where I can do anything.”
For more than three decades he worked in fundraising for Special Events Incorporated in Cincinnati, becoming the CEO, and his obituary noted “he genuinely loved and cared for all his employees. They were his extended family.”
Heimkreiter also was a caregiver to his father, who passed away a couple of years ago.
Rest ye well, son of Notre Dame.
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