Any discussion about Ara Parseghian probably should start with his name. It's memorable to American audiences, just like its owner.
Ara is a popular first name among Armenian families, since there was a beloved king by that name. That puts you in position to realize that the last name is Armenian as well, as his family at various points crossed the ocean and ended up in Akron, Ohio.
It's still an unlikely journey from there for Ara Parseghian to be something of a household name in football-loving American households - especially those in the vicinity of South Bend, Indiana. That, naturally, is the home of Notre Dame University. Parseghian coached there for 11 seasons, enough to make him a Hall of Famer and something of a legend.
That leads us to a biography of Parseghian, appropriately named "Ara." It only takes three letters to identify the subject of this one. It's a thorough book that generates a discussion about the issue of access versus objectivity.
But first, a word about Ara's life. He had a good playing career at Miami (Ohio), and signed a pro contract with the Cleveland Browns. However, a hip injury ended Parseghian's time as a pro really before it started. He went back to his alma mater and became a freshman football coach, and then moved up a step when Woody Hayes left for Ohio State. Ara did well at Miami, and was all right in his next stop at Northwestern despite playing much bigger schools in the Big Ten. When Notre Dame decided it was time to look for a new football coach, Parseghian's name popped up high on their list.
It didn't take him long to make an impression. In 1964, Parseghian was only a few minutes away from a win over Southern California and a national championship. The Trojans pulled that game out, but 9-1 was a sign that Notre Dame football was in good hands. Ara stayed in South Bend for 11 seasons, and his worst records were a pair of 7-2-1 seasons.
Along the way, the Fighting Irish claimed a couple of national championships. One was in 1966, the year of a famous 10-10 tie with Michigan State in one of the epic games in college football history. (To be fair, the Spartans probably deserved to split the title with Notre Dame that year under the circumstances.) The other was 1973 and came with no baggage; a thrilling win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl took care of that. Still, ND usually was a contender for national honors, as good seasons popped out of the copying machine year after year.
Hubbard does make a great point that Notre Dame's independent status is something of a drawback, particular in the 1960s when teams were not going to bowl games. Without a conference affiliation, ND's basic goal every year was a national championship, because there was no second prize. That's a rather high standard.
Happily, Parseghian by all accounts was a man of high integrity. He won the right way, which was important at Notre Dame. There was an incident involving some players in 1974, which probably is a little underplayed here, but otherwise this was a very clean program. There's a lot to admire here.
Parseghian lasted 11 seasons, and his retirement was unexpected and sudden. There is pressure on the football coach at Notre Dame, and he had had enough of it. Interestingly, Notre Dame has had several good coaches since then, including Lou Holtz. Only Brian Kelly made it to a 12th season, and he left before the year was over to jump to LSU. Ara eventually made the transition into other areas, such as broadcasting, and did considerable charity work. It was quite a second act, since about 40 years elapsed between retirement and death.
That leads the discussion into access, an important point in this case. Hubbard has a couple of other books about Notre Dame to his credit, writing about the 1953 and 1966 Irish teams. He wrote the script of a video that was played at Parseghian's funeral. Mark first met Ara when the '66 book was in development in 2011, and Hubbard eventually became quite close to the entire family.
The first clue about the resulting book is right on the cover - "An authorized biography." That means the family allowed Hubbard access to all sorts of information that usually isn't well know. It sounds like Ara kept a ton of material around the house. Some of it winds up here in the form of letters from fans, letters to other coaches and administrators, notes on speeches, playbooks, etc. A few things, like Parseghian's somewhat compulsion to record the details of all of his golf games, mercifully have been lost to history in the form of some cleaning over the years. It's interesting to see some of this material in public, since it usually is not ever disclosed for readers.
But here's where the problem is. The book isn't at all objective about Parseghian and Notre Dame. They get the benefit of the doubt in every case. There are no flaws to be found here. Hubbard still seems to be upset about some officiating in Notre Dame games from long ago, even if he probably wasn't around to see it. There's also a little talk about other people being jealous of Notre Dame and its great record, which turned into bias against the school in poll voting. So it reads as if it were written by a big fan, which it was. And after a while, it all becomes a bit much. Parseghian probably would be the first to say he was no saint, but this is often over the top.
"Ara" has its virtues. It certainly will fill in the gaps of the career of a remarkable coach, and it probably has been a big seller at the Notre Dame bookstore since publication. Fans of Parseghian will gobble it up. The family members certainly must have been proud of the finished product. But the book is a little too one-sided for my tastes, and maybe for some others as well.
Three stars
Learn more about this book from Amazon.com. (As an Amazon affiliate, I earn money from qualified purchases.)
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