Bengal Bouts: A Fighting Chance  

Since 1931 the Bengal Bouts, Notre Dame’s annual charity boxing tournament, has donated funds made during the Bouts to Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh. The College of Engineering has long supported this sport-service event, in the spirit of the former director and coach of the bouts Dominic “Nappy” Napolitano, who described the purpose of the Bouts as “Strong bodies fight, that weak bodies may be nourished.”

The 2007 Bouts were held February 21-March 3, 2007. Engineering students who participated were: Pat Bruen, Tomas Castillo, Brent Eska, Stephen Hansen, Kevin Hederman, Michael Hennig, Phillip Hicks, Matt Hopke, Blake Jones, Andrew Klein, Steve Klein, John Leonis, Phil MacCart, Matthew Maguire, Bryan Marek, Patrick Martin, Sean McNichols, Andy Nester, Andrew O’Donnell, Jonathan Parry, Steven Rivera, Ken Shamrell, John Soltis, Matthew Walz, Dan Ward, and John Williams

Although the totals for this year’s tournament are not yet available, the 2006 Bengal Bouts netted $52,000 for Holy Cross Missions. According to Rev. Thomas W. Smith, C.S.C., director of Holy Cross Missions, that’s worth approximately $500,000 in Bangladesh.

Copyright 2007. University of Notre Dame.