On December 6 1949 1949 Heisman winner Leon Hart
Each and every time 1949 Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart returned to the Notre Dame campus, he followed the same ritual. “He’d go to the Grotto and light a candle for his loved ones when we got there, and he would do the same thing when we left,” said his son Kevin Hart of Birmingham, Mich. “At the time, we kind of thought it was a pain, but it was never a point of discussion. It was just what we’d do.” Now, every time Kevin Hart or one of his four brothers or sisters returns to Notre Dame, they light a candle in memory of their father. Leon Hart, who was the last lineman to win the Heisman Trophy, died in 2002. He and his wife, Lois, are buried at the Cedar Grove Cemetery on the Notre Dame campus. “You kind of feel a lot of him there,” Kevin Hart said. “He’s a big part of the fabric of the school for us.” Kevin Hart and three of his siblings graduated from Notre Dame. He was a tight end for the Fighting Irish from 1975 to 1979, and his oldest son, Brendan, also played there. Leon Hart never missed one of their games. “Notre Dame was so great to him in his late years,” Kevin Hart said. “There was a renewed interest in him. He could go anywhere he wanted to go. The stadium staff and everyone else knew him. They’d send a golf cart to pick him up and carry him. The campus was wide open to him.” Leon Hart played four seasons at Notre Dame from 1946 to ’49, when the Fighting Irish won three national titles and never lost a game. He was co-captain of the 1949 national championship team and played both offense and defense. “It’s still a special place for us,” Kevin Hart said. “Going to the Grotto is one of the first things we do. It was a ritual he carried out and instilled in a lot of us.”
— Mark Schlabach
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