Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the varsity sports teams of the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. Through the summer of 2010, Notre Dame has won 56 national championships since it started competing in athletics. Since the NCAA has formed, Notre Dame has recorded 26 national championships, 18 were won by men's teams, 5 by women's teams, and 4 by combined teams. Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, (consisting of the 69th NY, 63rd NY, 88th NY, 116th Pennsylvania, and 28th Mass. Infantry Regiments), recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I. Though the Irish regiments and Kilmer were well-known, particularly in the urban ethnic community, during the era between the Civil War and World War II, Notre Dame's claim to the nickname is justified since its third president was a famous Irish Brigade chaplain whose ministrations at Gettysburg are commemorated in the "Absolution Under Fire," part of Notre Dame's permanent art collection. This chaplain's name was Fr. William Corby. There are two identical monuments dedicated to him, one is on the battlefield at the Gettysburg National Military Park, and the other is on the campus of Notre Dame