Hanratty trusted Ara Parseghian when he said he'd have a chance to compete.
Even though he was footing the bill, it’s also crazy to Hanratty how his own son Conor, the most sought after recruiting prospect on New Canaan’s current team, took visits to the state of California, the state of Florida and up and down the East Coast and Midwest to make sure he was making the right decision, before he pulled the trigger and verbally committed to Notre Dame this past weekend.
A high school All-American quarterback out of Butler (Pa.) Senior High back in 1965, Hanratty certainly didn’t go on a national tour before signing with Notre Dame himself.
Hardly anybody did. That type of stuff was unheard of.
One of the many differences between Hanratty’s recruitment and his son’s.
“If you went two states away for school, you went a long way away from home,” Hanratty said. He did just that at Notre Dame, where he went on to be a two-time All-American, leading the team to a National Championship in 1966 before a eight-year career in the NFL. “The airplane wasn’t a big deal back then.”
Hanratty’s coach also didn’t want his players taking advantage of college coaches or their programs. He’d been around the block before, coaching over 60 Division-I players in a 20-year period, and Hanratty fell in the middle of that.
“He said you’re not going to go out there to visit Southern Cal (on an official visit). He said the same thing about Miami and Texas, you’re not just going down there to visit. He said you have to be honest with schools, and I carried that over to Conor.”
Conor Hanratty, an ESPN 150 Watch List offensive tackle prospect, chose his father’s alma mater over scholarship offers from the likes of Boston College, California, Clemson, Florida State, Iowa, Maryland, UCLA, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The elder Hanratty had a bevy of scholarship offers to consider himself, and says he was offered everything under the sun by different alumni from every school with the exception of Notre Dame.
“I’d like to compliment the NCAA because every coach that contacted Conor, there wasn’t a gray area about it,” Hanratty began. “It was just above board and everything, and they stuck to all the rules with the phone calls. Everybody played by the rules which is really neat to see unlike the things I saw when I was in the same situation.
“I was offered cars, a house, furniture, money, my best friend gets a scholarship too. It was unbelievable. The only school that didn’t offer me anything was Notre Dame. (Head coach) Ara (Parseghian) said I’d have a chance to compete for the starting job. The way it came out of his mouth, I trusted him.”
For the younger Hanratty, he began receiving major recruiting attention during his sophomore year of high school. His father didn’t really start hearing from schools until his senior year, and didn’t commit to Notre Dame until January.
Hanratty’s older brother Pete attended Notre Dame on a half track and field, half academic scholarship. He himself never visited the campus until he took an official visit to South Bend during the winter of his senior year.
“You wouldn’t even think about spending money or getting on an airplane and flying to a school,“ Hanratty said. His father worked in a hardware store and his mother kept the home. “You worried more about meal money and food on the table.
“We lived little check to little check. There wasn’t any savings in the account for college.”
That’s why it was hard for Hanratty to ignore alumni from different schools offering money and expensive gifts.
“It was interesting when you see alumni flash a roll of money in your face and you grew up in a family that has nothing. It was attractive.”
Notre Dame was also always attractive to Hanratty and his family. Before Butler Senior High, Hanratty attended St. Paul Catholic School, where religion was instilled into him at a young age. Then there was his brother already enrolled in school in South Bend.
“I think back then, every Catholic kid wanted to go to Notre Dame. That was the target.”
Unlike now, back then college programs could drop by the high school or the house anytime they wanted. Hanratty wasn’t the only talent at his school, and coaches continuously came by the school.
Hanratty eventually narrowed down his list to Notre Dame, Michigan State and Penn State, but not without a fight from Ohio State.
“Woody Hayes came to the house and sat on our furniture and Woody was smart. He never talked to the player, only to the mother. After he left the house, my mother was like that Woody Hayes is a wonderful man, and I was like mother he might be a wonderful man, but he throws the ball like twice a game. That’s not for me.”
Michigan State almost was.
Hanratty eliminated the Nittany Lions and nearly became a Spartan.
“Then I met Ara and it was all over. I had to call Duffy Daugherty at Michigan State and tell him. I was petrified to make that call thinking he would yell and scream. He went on for the next half hour about what a great decision I made, and how great a coach Ara was, and made a 17-year old’s life real easy.
Hanratty also took his official visit to Michigan State in the winter, just before he visited Notre Dame. Parseghian also made a trip out East to see him.
“He came to Pittsburgh, and I drove down 25 miles to see him. There was a steak sandwich on the menu and it was three dollars and fifty cents, and I thought if I order this he’d think I was gouging him, so I went for the club sandwich for a dollar-fifty.”
Hanratty wanted to commit to Parseghian at that lunch, but waited to do so after getting home and talking it over with his mother.
“She was as happy as she could be. A catholic woman and Notre Dame, she couldn’t be happier.”
Brian Kelly jumped out of his chair when Conor Hanratty gave his verbal commitment.
“I knew it was the spot for Conor to be, but I never told him that. I told him that my experiences there, you have to feel it. He asked me early on, how am I going to know what school is best for me? I said you’ll feel it. It’s an intangible. You’ll be walking around and feel that comfort level, and you may have to take a leap of faith.”
Hanratty did that, when Parseghian told him he’d have a chance to start.
“Back then, they were allowed to take 35 players a year. They never said they’re not going to recruit any other quarterbacks. There were four coming in my freshman year. There was a lot of bodies running around when I was there.
“Schools brought in a lot of linemen, and there were a lot of position changes back then. You’d recruit one offensive lineman and he’d end up a defensive lineman. You’d have a quarterback end up at linebacker and another end up a safety.”
Hanratty was shocked by current Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly’s reaction when his son gave his verbal pledge.
“Kelly jumped out of the chair. I couldn’t believe it. He said that’s great news. Now we have the spring game to go. it’s a great day. I was very impressed with his enthusiasm.”
Hanratty handled the football part of the decision, and his better half took care of the academics.
“She was a big part of the process. Every time we went anywhere, she’d skip the football practice but never the academic meetings. My daughter Erin was a trooper too. It’s not easy for her being 12-years old, being rucked around to all these meetings. She’s a sports fan, but it’s a little consuming for a 12-year old.”
While the thought of recruiting and taking visits consumed his son, it just wasn’t like that for the elder Hanratty.
“None of us every thought about it because it was quickly narrowed down to a few schools. You didn’t take a bunch of visits because you played other sports and you couldn’t miss your basketball season because you were visiting other schools.”
Times have certainly changed.
Back in January at the U.S. Army All-American National Combine in San Antonio, Texas, ESPN 150 Watch List offensive tackle Conor Hanratty said that every school he gets a scholarship offer from and visits, he’s comparing to Notre Dame.
Tony Springmann (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) always gets a special feeling when he visits the Notre Dame campus.
