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Notre Dame’s campus features religious artwork that students and alumni have associated with football traditions. “First Down Moses” and the “Holy Hand-Off” illustrate how campus landmarks acquire informal names alongside their original artistic and religious significance.

First Down Moses stands outside Hesburgh Library. Created by sculptor Joseph Turkalj in the early 1960s, the sculpture depicts Moses holding the Ten Commandments and raising one hand. Students adopted the nickname because the raised hand resembles the signal for a first down in football. Alumni also recall the name “We’re No. 1” Moses.

Tim O’Neill, a 1994 Notre Dame graduate, recalled a Halloween tradition involving the statue. “My favorite memory of the Moses statue was when a student snuck up the statue the night before Halloween and put a pumpkin way up onto his finger. I was never quite sure how they climbed up there with a huge pumpkin to get that one done!”

Another campus sculpture, informally known as the Holy Hand-Off, depicts Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Installed near the Coleman-Morse Center in 2006, the sculpture’s formal title is “In Celebration of Family,” according to a May 19, 2006, article in The Observer. Commissioned by
the Brutoco family, the sculpture emphasizes the family’s role in society.

O’Neill also recalled “Fair Catch Corby” as another nickname used by students, alongside First Down Moses and “Touchdown Jesus,” another campus landmark associated with football.

“I don’t mind that these statues on campus have nicknames. I think it brings them more into everyday life and meaning and conversation,” O’Neill said. “Something tells me that Moses, Mary, Joseph and Jesus would be okay with it all too.”

The nicknames connect the university’s religious artwork with the football culture that shapes student and alumni experiences.