By: Tony Jones, Media Relations Assistant – University Of Notre Dame Athletics
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame Celebrity softball team roster has been announced for the upcoming Notre Dame Celebrity Slow-Pitch Game against the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team (WWAST) Sept. 29 at Melissa Cook Stadium.
The charity game will follow the Irish softball team’s contest with the Wounded Warriors at 12 p.m. The event has been generously underwritten by Pete Johnson (’79), a linebacker on the 1977 Notre Dame national championship football team, and retired Major General Phillip Volpe (’77), who is serving as the official military escort for the weekend’s festivities.
A total of four current Notre Dame head coaches have been confirmed to take part in the fundraising event, with proceeds from the game’s $5 admission fee benefitting the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team. Joining Irish softball coach Deanna Gumpf will be baseball coach Mik Aoki, men’s basketball coach Mike Brey and hockey coach Jeff Jackson (Jackson will serve as the Notre Dame Celebrity team manager).
Numerous former Notre Dame student-athletes will suit up for the Irish once again during the event, including former men’s basketball captain and current ESPN analyst LaPhonso Ellis (’92), former women’s basketball standout Danielle Green (’99), former women’s swimmer and current Notre Dame Monogram Club president Haley Scott DeMaria (’95) and former Notre Dame softball captain and Monogram Club board member Jen Sharron Richardson (’01).
Representing the University from outside of the playing field is the wife of football head coach Brian Kelly and the co-founder of the Kelly Cares Foundation Paqui Kelly, former executive director of the Notre Dame Alumni Association Chuck Lennon (’61, ’62), former Monogram Club president Dick Nussbaum (’74, ’77) and the current program director for Notre Dame Student-Athlete Welfare & Development Duke Preston.
Members of the local media who will take the field for the Irish Celebrity squad include WSBT-TV sports director Pete Byrne (’99), WNDU-TV sports reporter Angelo Di Carlo and co-anchor from the Jack, Bruce and Abby Morning Show on Sunny 101.5 FM Jack Reichert.
Rounding out the team are special guests from the United States Armed Forces, Purple Heart and Army Commendation Medal of Valor recipient Sergeant Christopher Cassleman of the 82nd Airborne Division, and U.S Army Colonel Bryan Fenton (’87), who serves as a Monogram Club board director.
The guest skipper for the Wounded Warriors will be 1968 Notre Dame graduate, former mayor of South Bend and former governor of Indiana Joe Kernan.
For more information on the fundraiser, contact the Notre Dame softball office at (574) 631-3750, follow the Irish @NDSoftball and @NDcoachGumpf on Twitter, and Like Notre Dame softball at Facebook.com/NDSoftball.
Notre Dame Celebrity Slow-Pitch Game Roster
Mik Aoki Head Coach, Notre Dame Baseball
Mike Brey Head Coach, Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Pete Byrne, ’99 WSBT-TV, Sports Dir.
Sgt. Christopher Cassleman 82nd Airborne Division, Iraq Surge. Awarded a Purple Heart and Army Commendation Medal of Valor
Angelo Di Carlo Sports Reporter, WNDU-TV
LaPhonso Ellis, ‘92 Former Notre Dame Basketball Captain, current ESPN analyst
Army Col. Bryan Fenton, ’87 Nominated to rank of Brigadier General, ND Monogram Board Director
Danielle Green, ‘99 Former Notre Dame Women’s Basketball stand-out, Readjustment Counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs
Deanna Gumpf Head Coach, Notre Dame Softball
Jeff Jackson Head Coach, Notre Dame Hockey
Pete Johnson, ’79 Former Linebacker, ND Football 1977 national champion
Paqui Kelly Co-Founder, Executive Board Member of Kelly Cares Foundation
Chuck Lennon, ’61, ‘62 Former Executive Dir. of the Notre Dame Alumni Association
Dick Nussbaum, ’74, ’77 Former President, Notre Dame Monogram Club
Duke Preston Program Dir., Notre Dame Student-Athlete Welfare & Development
Jack Reichert Co-Anchor for Sunny 101.5 FM Jack, Bruce and Abby Morning Show
Haley Scott DeMaria, ’95 Monogram Club President, author What Though The Odds
Jen Sharron Richardson, ’01 Former ND Softball Capt., Monogram Club Board Member
Gen. Phillip Volpe, ’77 Military Escort
(TBD) Football Player
(TBD) Football Player
(TBD) Football Player
Celebrity Manager for the Wounded Warrior Team:
Gov. Joe Kernan, ’68 Former Governor of Indiana, former Mayor of South Bend
