Bookstore Basketball

Announcer clip, unattributed: Who’s that veteran of the famed Notre Dame bookstore tournament? School president, Monk Malloy.

Rev. Edward “Monk” Malloy, C.S.C., President Emeritus: I think athletics, properly seen, give people who participate in it a recognition of the relationship between the body, the heart, the mind, the spirit.

Mia Keener ’26, Co-President, Bookstore Basketball: My dad, he was big into Bookstore. I mean, his friends still talk about it like today. 

Tim Frank ’93, Senior VP, League Operations Communications at NBA: At some of the games there’d be, probably, a couple thousand people there.

Archive footage, unattributed: Can you give a few words on your predictions for the game? You know that you’re playing against like seminarians and priests.

I’m going to feel bad if I have to foul him. I feel like it’s like sacrilegious or something.

I’m surprised he didn’t shoot. He doesn’t look good, but he shoots. He gets it. He gets it, so . . .

Keenan Bross, C.S.C., Keenan Hall Rector: Getting involved in Bookstore Basketball because you’re at Notre Dame, and being at Notre Dame—that’s what you do. And that’s the amazing thing about Notre Dame is our traditions.

Introduction: Welcome to Notre Dame Stories, the official podcast of the University of Notre Dame, where we push the boundaries of discovery, embracing the unknown for a deeper understanding of our world.

Jenna Liberto, Host: Basketball courts have personality. Schoolyard, gym, church basement—these places hold memories. They hold tradition and connection. The connection for Mia Keener is with her dad. She jokes he never helped her perfect her jump shot. He jokes she’s better suited to take stats. Together, they have Bookstore Basketball.

At one time, it was the largest outdoor 5-on-5 tournament in the world. Today, it’s still a popular campus tradition, especially for Mia and her dad. For him, as a player, and for her, well, she’s running the show.

Jenna Liberto: How’s it been going so far?

Mia Keener: Good. This year’s been really exciting.

Jenna Liberto: Really?

Mia Keener: Yeah. I don’t know. I think it’s been . . . I was telling my friend earlier today, like, it’s been better than I expected. We had really good commissioner numbers, which is huge.

Jenna Liberto: What do the commissioners do?

Mia Keener: They sit at the court and just keep score and keep track of fouls. 

Jenna Liberto: I mean, right now we have, you know, some guys practicing in the background, but what’s it like at the game?

Mia Keener: On our best days, we’ll have all six courts full, and it’s just—the sun is shining, it’s warm, you’re in shorts for the first time in months.

Jenna Liberto: Why did you want to get involved with Bookstore Basketball in the first place?

Mia Keener: My dad graduated from here, and just hearing about how much fun, like it was always his favorite tradition. Growing up, it was just Bookstore Basketball, Bookstore Basketball, Bookstore Basketball. 

And we’ve, like, just really bonded over Bookstore together, especially this year with me being so involved. And I think me getting involved in Bookstore has just brought him so much joy of like, this was his favorite thing and he’s watched it become one of my favorite things.

Jenna Liberto: He met some pretty interesting people on this court or forged relationships—particularly [with] someone who now, literally, his day-to-day life is the NBA. 

Mia Keener: My dad and Tim Frank are two peas in a pod. And I truly love their relationship. They met in Fisher Hall here at Notre Dame, and they became best friends and lived together, and we have a group chat now. It’s called “Bitter Old Men and Mia.” It’s a really great time.

Jenna Liberto: Sounds like a sitcom.

Mia Keener: It feels like it.

Jenna Liberto: We dropped into that group chat while Tim was here on campus. Although separated by decades as Notre Dame students, Mia and Tim share plenty of memories around Bookstore Basketball. And for Tim, it all started on the other side of campus.

Tim Frank: Right over here.

Jenna Liberto: I see.

Tim Frank: All of this.

Jenna Liberto: Yeah. And what dorm did you live in?

Tim Frank: I lived in Fisher.

Jenna Liberto: OK.

Tim Frank: They ripped my dorm down.

Yeah. I mean, when we were here, you know, there were like [600] or 700 teams in it. And there was no—I don’t think there was a separate women’s division, so the women would play in it. Men would play in it. And the University, like all the employees played. And so, it was one of those things that it just, like, sort of took over campus for a month. 

Like, I always laugh. My senior year, we went to the Elite Eight, and I was in a bar the night before, and I had people talking to me that I had never met in my life. Then I saw them the next week, and they’re not paying attention to me. But like, during that period of time, you were like, people knew who you were, and it was a big deal. And like people, literally, at some of the games, there’d be probably a couple thousand people there. And it was, it was pretty cool.

Jenna Liberto: Wow. Explain to me what you do now.

Tim Frank: I work for the NBA.

Jenna Liberto: The NBA? Go back. You work for the NBA?

Tim Frank: The NBA. Yes. In communications.

Jenna Liberto: But with all the really cool, I’m sure, NBA experiences you have on a regular basis, you still put Bookstore Basketball up there on par?

Tim Frank: Absolutely. I tell people about it every time. When people talk about intramurals at schools, I just—I’ve always told them like there’s just not a second. No one can compare. The difference is, like, when you’re—you know, going to the NBA games is great and it’s fun, and I did the Olympics and Finals and all that stuff, but I’m not playing. Like, the idea to actually play in something like that.

You know, one of my favorite memories is before we played our Elite Eight game—and we played three future NFL players in that game—I was shooting on Lyons’ courts, and I came up through the arch of, not of Lyons but of Howard, and the bookstore courts were right there, and I couldn’t believe the number of people that were there to watch us play. And it was an overwhelming moment—I’ll always remember it. Like, when I get old—90 years old—I’m going to remember that vision when I came through there because it was just such a neat time.

Jenna Liberto: Tell me about the connection between your families, OK? How do you know Mia?

Tim Frank: Mia’s like my daughter.

Jenna Liberto: Surrogate daughter?

Tim Frank: Yeah. No, her dad and I were roommates sophomore and junior year, and we played Bookstore together sophomore and junior year. So, you know, when you’re freshmen, you go to, they call you to the basement, and you have, like, this meeting. And this loser sits next to me, and he’s wearing, like a . . . First of all, I don’t even know what he’s wearing. He’s like wearing a practice jersey from Moeller High School, and he sits down beside me, and I just introduce myself, “I’m Tim.” “I’m Ed.” You know, whatever.

And he goes, “Yeah, do you play basketball?”

And I was like, “Yeah, no, I play basketball.”

And he goes, “That’s awesome.”

He goes, “I just love basketball.”

And then he just took his fists like this, and he was like, “I love ball!”

Like, I don’t know what happened. He just like went into an out-of-body experience talking about basketball. But, hilariously, we ended up becoming roommates the next year. And at that time I never thought I’d speak to him again.

Jenna Liberto: But he loves basketball. 

Tim Frank: He loves basketball.

Jenna Liberto: Do you think, is he around? Could we call him in? Can we surprise him?

Mia Keener [on phone]: Hey, Dad.

Tim Frank: Dude, I’m not even trying to riff on you. They’re making me do it.

Ed Keener ’93: I’m so sorry that they’ve got a gun to your head, Tim.

Tim Frank: They are. This is terrible. I was like, “I want to defend him.” I also made fun of your stupid Moeller practice jersey you had on.

Ed Keener: I still have that.

Tim Frank: I believe that.

Jenna Liberto: How proud are you that Mia’s involved with this part of the Notre Dame experience that you love so much?

Ed Keener: You know, honestly, since she’s been back at school, it’s been great for us to reconnect with the school at a deeper level. I think it’s awesome that she’s taken this on, because it’s awesome to see these traditions continue.

Jenna Liberto: And so now that you’ve been a part of it, what do you think it is about Bookstore Basketball that’s so unique, so special, that makes people feel so connected to Notre Dame even when they’re gone?

Mia Keener: I think the big thing of Notre Dame is tradition. So I think knowing that you’re a part of something that’s been around for, next year will be 55 years, like that’s really cool. And I think the people make it so enjoyable. It’s a lot of people in dorms. We have faculty that’s like, “Oh, you were my TA.” 

We had a professor come out this year and make a team for the econ department, but we also have seminarians. The priests love to come out here and watch the games. Especially priests in residences in the dorms that their teams are playing. And they just really, really get into it. They love to chirp the other team. 

They, you know, they’re really close with God, so maybe they have some lenience that they can say whatever they want. I don’t know. Father Pete lives here in Baumer, and he loves Bookstore. He’s come out a few times just to stand and watch.

Rev. Pete McCormick, C.S.C., Assistant Vice President for Campus Ministry: What’s up, everybody? This is Father Pete McCormick, director of Campus Ministry here at the University of Notre Dame. But something you might not know about me is I’m, like, a 15-year vet of Bookstore Basketball. When I think about some of the great stories that I can recall, I’ve got one that’s traumatic and one that is very sentimental, at least to me.

The traumatic one was: I had the chance to win a game, a highly competitive one in the late rounds to advance and—I can’t even remember the round at this point—but I missed a free throw. The free throw would have put us over the hump. We would have won the game, would have celebrated. Instead, we lost, and I end up chucking my Rec Specs. I always swore that that rim that I missed on, if I ever had any kind of influence around this place, that I was going to have it torn down.

Well, as it turns out, I don’t have any type of influence about where basketball hoops do or do not go, but the University did decide to tear out that bookstore court and put a parking lot in, and then move the courts over to a new location. So, at the end of the day, I kind of got what I was hoping for. 

But on the more sentimental side of the thing, one of my favorite things that we maintained all the way from when I was a young pup in Bookstore all the way to the very end when I was a grizzled vet and barely making my way down the stinking court was, at the end of the game, whether we won or whether we lost, was to bring both teams together for a prayer.

It was just a chance to be able to thank God for the opportunity to come out and compete. So for these two and so many other reasons, I’m grateful for Bookstore Basketball. God bless you all, and go Irish.

Father Monk Malloy: Father Monk Malloy, President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. One of my favorite memories has to do with the year we set it up, that my team, called “All the President’s Men,” would play another team called “All the President’s Women” that had my niece and her roommates in it. 

We played in the opening game. They were terrible. I let my niece steal the ball in the opening play, and then I grabbed her sweatshirt so she couldn’t move, and it was on the front page of The Observer, and it was on the evening news in the sports section. They never mentioned that we were related, and they simply accused me of being a very rough basketball player. I never . . . I was much fouled upon but never fouling. 

I had one game I was 11 for 11, another game I was 0 for 11. It all depended on the wind and also whether the rim was even or not. Sometimes the rim was like 9 feet and then 11 feet when it’s supposed to be 10 feet. And so that had a big impact on me as an outside shooter.

Jenna Liberto: Bookstore Basketball is a tradition passed down through generations of the religious family of the Congregation of Holy Cross. It’s a glimpse into campus life for priests, brothers, and seminarians. As they prepare for and live out their vocations, their integration in campus life is not dissimilar to that of students. I talked to seminarian Keenan Bross, who’s scheduled for ordination next year.

Keenan Bross, C.S.C., Keenan Hall Rector: You know, like any Notre Dame student, you throw together a team with your buddies and come up with a name. And so I’ve been at Notre Dame now, it’s my eighth year, four years of undergraduate, four years of graduate seminary.

Jenna Liberto: So tell me what that is like because it’s sort of like a microcosm. You have the brothers and priests and undergraduate students.

Keenan Bross: Yeah. You know, it’s oftentimes teams don’t realize they’re playing against seminaries at first. 

Jenna Liberto: Oh, really?

Keenan Bross: This year it was funny, some guy was like—I think I was chirping a little bit—and some guy says, “Wait, you’re going to be a priest?!” So, it’s kind of fun the way in which they realize that, you know, we’re humans along the way. And maybe, you know, there’s a beautiful religious name to the team or something like that, but it’s a fun process of kind of the other way around. Normally, they meet you as a priest and then realize you’re human, but here, they just meet you as a basketball player and then realize, you know, you’re on your way to priesthood.

Jenna Liberto: So what does it mean to be Christlike on the court and to be human and be a basketball player? How would you describe that dynamic for you?

Keenan Bross: Yeah, being Holy Cross, or the Congregation of Holy Cross, is about living the fullness of life. Life is holy. Life is beautiful. Life is good. Life is also the cross. Life is full of suffering and challenges and getting through it. So this idea that being a Christian is about living the fullness of life is, I think, even lived out on the court. So I don’t think there’s some, you know, amazing, idealistic, virtuous way to play basketball.

You play Christlike basketball by playing basketball. Follow the rules. Don’t hurt people. Have a darn good time. Be a good team player.

I think, over the past 10 years, the way I play basketball has changed, partly because I’ve become an old man compared to my 18-year-old self. So our brand, always, when we play people is “Old Man Hoops.” We like to play slow and . . .

Jenna Liberto: Reverent. We can call that reverence, right?

Keenan Bross: Right. Reverent hoops. Yes.

But you know, back in the day, I thrived by making my own moves and getting to the basket and crossing people over. And now, I’m an excellent passer, you know. So there has been some formation, maybe Christlike formation, over the years in that way.

But I still think I’m a pretty funny and silly guy on the court, and I don’t think that’s ever going away.

Jenna Liberto: Tell me about where we are talking right now. Is this the court you practice on? We’re in the seminary.

Keenan Bross: So, Moreau Seminary was built in the 1950s, and we have this wonderful, wonderful space where we play basketball two or three times a week. This is where we all practice, and we’ve even got a couple of banners.

Jenna Liberto: Oh, yes. I just noticed.

Keenan Bross: In ’99, and then, in 2003, got to the Sweet 16 in the Bookstore tournament. So this is, yeah, this is like the basketball home for us, and you can even, from our rooms across the way, kind of look down in here. So it’s a special spot.

Rev. Dan Parrish, C.S.C., Assistant Superior of Moreau Seminary and Scholasticate: This is Father Dan Parrish, C.S.C. I played for the Moreau Seminary Bookstore Basketball team between the years 2000 and 2008. One time, we were getting fairly deep in the tournament. This year we had heard that we were playing some guys from the lacrosse team. And so we were nervous because they’re young and very athletic, and here we all were in our 30s. 

So we showed up on the original courts over there underneath what is now Hammes Mowbray, underneath where the post office is. And we showed up, and I looked down at the other end of the court, and I could see that their center was anything but a lacrosse player. This guy was giant. 

It was Jordan Black, who was an offensive lineman from the football team. And he played that basketball game as if he were playing football, or probably closer to, it would be, rugby.

We lost to them. Actually, one of our players left the game with a concussion. It was a very physical game, and we found out later that night they had an ineligible player, and so we ended up getting the victory overturned. But it was one of those times when we looked at our opponents and thought, “We’re in for a game.” And a game we got.

Brother Matt Rehagen, C.S.C.: Hello, my name is Brother Matt Rehagen. I’m a Holy Cross brother, and I teach high school at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis. And I’ve always loved Bookstore Basketball. My favorite memory was probably my sophomore year. We were playing—probably in the third round—we were playing a team that was just stacked. They had Austin Burgett, who was a graduating basketball senior at that time. 

And my favorite moment was being able to put a pretty nice move on him and then hitting a three over him. Feeling really good about myself and then immediately getting humbled with him posterizing me on the other end of the court. So we ended up getting smoked that game. But I think that was my best, kind of, just the most fun period of 15 seconds for me, just like what it means to play Bookstore Basketball. Just having fun, having a good time, making some good plays, but, ultimately, just building community.

Rev. Lou DelFra, C.S.C., Priest-in-Residence, Keenan Hall; Faculty, Institute for Educational Initiatives: I’m Father Lou DelFra. I’m the priest-in-residence in Keenan Hall and a faculty member in the Institute for Educational Initiatives here at Notre Dame. So, we had a seminarian Bookstore team that was pretty good. We were seeded, we had made it to the Final Eight the year before. And one of our seminarians got ordained on the Saturday after Easter. And later that afternoon, we had our Bookstore game. And the guy that just got ordained was checking the ball in for the opening possession, and the guy just looked at him and just said, “Did you just get ordained this morning?” and he said, “Yeah.” And he just looked at his team and just said, “Oh, bleep.” It was really a funny way to begin the game.

Keenan Bross: Well, I sure hope he won the thing . . . with the grace of ordination. That’s amazing.

Jenna Liberto: Right? Cliffhanger.

Jenna Liberto: That goes back to exactly what you were talking about, sort of, these moments on the court where the realization who you’re playing with or against.

Keenan Bross: And also that clearly the student he was playing against was at the Basilica participating in this guy’s Ordination Mass, and then also was over at the bookstore court and able to recognize that, I think is pretty fun.

Jenna Liberto: Of all the traditions in this place, there’s just something special about the court. Maybe it’s because it holds at once so many different things: athlete and novice, priest and student, past and present. In that way, the tradition is the connection in and of itself between generations of the Notre Dame family, no matter their time or place.

Thanks for joining us for Notre Dame Stories, the official podcast of the University of Notre Dame. Find us on stories.nd.edu and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Rev. Stephen Koeth, C.S.C., Assistant Professor of History; Priest-in-Residence, Stanford Hall: My name is Father Stephen Koeth. I’m a Holy Cross priest, an assistant professor of history, and the priest-in-residence of Stanford Hall. Here in Stanford Hall, I don’t think many of the guys believe that I could have played on a good team that many years ago. I point out to them the banners that we had hung in Rose Seminary to kind of celebrate the successes of our Bookstore Basketball team. 

Probably my fondest memory of Bookstore Basketball is actually of going to watch the other seminary teams. Especially the team Nunc Dimittis, it was called. A reference to the hymn that’s sung at night prayer every night: Lord, now you let your servant go. 

And we, as seminarians, would gather around the court and watch the game. And as the game was coming to a conclusion, it was clear we were going to win, all the seminarians singing that hymn in Latin, Nunc Dimittis, now you let your servant go. Kind of slightly intimidating, I think, and ethereal and impressive all at the same time. I think I remember that best about my time with Bookstore Basketball.

Archive footage, unattributed: Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us . . .