Ties to Notre Dame Bind Chaminade Pair : Hall, Lawson Left Knight Program Disgruntled, Providing Extra Incentive in Mission League Game

Calling it a grudge match is going overboard, like comparing a goldfish to a mako shark.

Yet when Chaminade High quarterback Travis Hall thinks about tonight’s 7:30 game against Notre Dame--a school he once attended--his hair stands on end, making his goose bumps look like sea urchins. And that is no exaggeration.

“I guess you could call me the fish that got away,” Hall said.

Hall’s coach, Rich Lawson, is in the same boat. Lawson, now in his fifth season at Chaminade, has never beaten Notre Dame, his alma mater and a school where he once served as an assistant.

“The kids know I’m from there,” said Lawson, who in 1980 was let go by Notre Dame after three seasons as an assistant. “But I keep telling them, don’t win this thing for me, win it for yourselves.”

Funny, but one kid seems to be listening more than the others.

Hall and Lawson will be teaming at Chaminade in an attempt to give the Eagles (3-0) their first victory over Notre Dame (1-1-1) in nine tries.

This is a story with a hook.

Hall transferred from Notre Dame to Mission League rival Chaminade after his freshman year, which in light of his family tree, was no small undertaking.

Hall’s older brother, Morgan, graduated from Notre Dame in 1989 and now plays volleyball at Cal State Northridge. Bart Hall, the father of Travis and Morgan, also is a Notre Dame alumnus.

Ties to the school were extensive. Travis had grown up with many of the students and attended the same elementary school. Hall’s father remained active in the Notre Dame booster club. Breaking camp was a difficult notion.

“He was always saying, ‘Give it one more chance,’ ” Travis said of his father.

Travis’ reaction: No chance.

The final decision to leave, Travis said, was based on several factors, many of which involved a vanload of unrelated people named Hall. Enough of them, in fact, to cause most folks to Hall-ucinate.

Three years ago, after Travis’ freshman year, Notre Dame was expected to lose its popular varsity volleyball coach, Jim Hall. Travis, an All-Mission League outside hitter last season, takes his volleyball seriously and the instability of the Notre Dame program was a concern. Plus, Chaminade at the time had a highly respected coach in Marvin Hall.

Travis also has twice lettered in basketball at Chaminade. The prospect of playing for Notre Dame Coach Mick Cady, for whom Morgan also played, was less than appealing.

“Cady treated (Morgan) very badly and he was not nice to be around,” Bart Hall said.

The Halls weighed their options. Each family member had mixed feelings about leaving Notre Dame, since many friends also were members of the booster club. And the Halls had just donated a tidy sum to help upgrade the basketball scoreboard.

“Six weeks later, we left,” Bart Hall said.

There were other reasons. Travis’ standing with the football team also was in limbo. Hall said he was told before his sophomore year that he would be placed on the varsity but later was moved down to the junior varsity when baseball standout Steve Colella decided to play quarterback.

“It wasn’t football so much as my future in other sports,” he said. “There honestly was no one (athletic) reason, but a lot of personal reasons.”

It will get very personal tonight.

Hall played for the Chaminade junior varsity as a sophomore, and in his first football game against Notre Dame, the Eagles scored on the first play but the Knights rebounded to win. It was a punishing defeat in more ways than one.

“That was the hardest game,” Hall said. “Most of the feelings were still fresh.”

Hall remembers absorbing some particularly nasty shots and, of course, hearing some verbal barbs from his former mates.

“Last year they weren’t too hard on me, though,” Hall said of his treatment during Notre Dame’s 35-21 victory.

Hall’s ties to Notre Dame have not been completely severed. In fact, he and Knight quarterback Darren Firestone went through the Catholic confirmation ceremony as 16-year-olds and threw a party together afterward.

Senior buddies Hall and Firestone are running arm in arm, neck and neck in their personal race for passing superiority. Hall has passed for 365 yards and two touchdowns; Firestone has thrown for 371 yards and four scores.

Close friends. A close call. All of which contributes to Hall’s zeal to become the first Chaminade quarterback to lead his team to victory over Notre Dame.

“I hope to have my best game of the year,” Hall said.

The odds are not in his favor. Despite Chaminade’s unbeaten record this season, the Eagles are 0-8 against Notre Dame and 0-4 under Lawson.

“It would mean everything to win,” Hall said. “If I lost every other game this year, I wouldn’t care as long as we win this one.”

He is not alone.

“I know exactly how he feels, but he needs to focus on the job at hand,” Lawson said. “In this type of situation, that’s hard for an adult, much less a 17-year-old.”

Lawson’s is the voice of experience. His coaching contract was not renewed at Notre Dame after the 1980 season. Lawson prefers not to discuss the matter, but he previously has stated that his departure was the result of a “lack of communication” and a “personality conflict” with Notre Dame Coach Kevin Rooney.

If a victory sounds important to Hall, imagine what it would mean to Lawson.

Said Lawson one year after a 24-10 loss to the Knights in 1987, his first season at Chaminade: “I wanted to win so bad that maybe I lost sight of what I was doing and the calls I was making.”

Imagine what Chaminade’s first offensive series could be like. Lawson calls three consecutive bombs, and Hall, adrenal glands working overtime, thrice heaves the ball into the next county. Are quarterback and coach kindred spirits?

“It’s kind of a coincidence, no doubt about it,” Lawson said.

Hall would agree. He is eager for the halcyon days to begin tonight. “There have been some bad feelings since I left,” Hall said. “It’s time to win this for the team and for myself.”