It was just released that Brian Kelly, the new Notre Dame football coach used to be in the Great Lakes Maritime Service before he entered coaching. He was Captain of a frigate cargo ship, the Bearcat, which serviced the waters of Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Superior.
In 1999, the year of the blizzard, the Bearcat was 12 miles off off point Wolverine, on Lake Superior, when the steering link broke that steered the ship, and chaos and bedlam broke on on the ship. The valiant crew fought the problem as long as they could, and Captain Kelly reluctantly gave the command to "Abandon Ship."
He was the first person off, and as his personal launch sped away, he turned, and waved to his stranded crew, still on board the vessel, still trying to save the ship.
