John Wroblewski’s three-and-a-half year run as head coach of Team USA Women’s Hockey brought him to tears in February: an emotional overflow as his players littered the ice with helmets and sticks and began celebrating their 2-1 overtime victory over Canada in the gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy. Known as “quiet and unassuming” but good for a prank during his four years as a sharpshooting Fighting Irish left wing, Wroblewski ’03 played four seasons of minor league hockey before turning his attention to coaching. “I think he’s done wonders for this group,” said star forward Taylor Heise, who delivered the puck to Megan Keller for the game-winner. “He’s a guy that deserves the world because he believed in all of us . . . I think he picked the right 23 girls to be here.” Josh Sciba ’07, one of Wroblewski’s three assistant coaches, also played left wing at Notre Dame. . . .
Three-time NCAA indoor pentathlon champion and heptathlon titleholder Jadin O’Brien ’24, ’25MNA, also headed to the Olympics — just not in the event she once expected. Months after taking up the sport, O’Brien earned a spot on Team USA’s two-woman bobsled roster and traveled to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, to compete. Across four heats, O’Brien and her teammate, five-time Olympian Elana Meyers Taylor, accumulated 3 minutes and 50.49 seconds on the track, strong enough for a seventh-place tie with a pairing from Switzerland. O’Brien is the first Notre Dame female athlete ever to compete in the Winter Games. . . . Scott Eden ’97 is making headlines with his new book, A Killing in Cannabis, which The New York Times praises as “an exhilarating, drug-fueled, true-crime thriller.” The narrative unpacks a murder tied to California’s marijuana trade, following a Santa Cruz-based technology entrepreneur who tried to straddle the line separating legitimate business from the black market. Eden’s book doubles as a cultural history of cannabis in California, revealing an industry outpacing the legalization movement that drives it. . . . Attorney Craig C. Martin’85 is chair-elect of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and will assume the leadership of its board of directors in May. A 20-year board member, Martin will oversee the preparation for the world-famous opera company’s celebrations of its own 75th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of its home, Chicago’s art deco Civic Opera Building, in 2029. . . .
John Donovan ’59, a South Side Chicago kid hailed as a Vail, Colorado, ski-resort legend who helped shape his adopted hometown, died November 25. In the 1960s, when Vail Ski Resort was a brand-new operation that denied its ski patrol a pay raise, Donovan delivered the raises himself — a free beer after each shift. One longtime resident told VailDaily that Donovan was the only person who could be counted on to plow the parking lot for resort guests on big snow days. Getting his start as a janitor before jumping to boot groomer and ski instructor, Donovan blended entrepreneurship and civic leadership with a mischievous streak, spinning stories of the town’s rough-and-tumble beginnings. One tale starred Donovan himself. It involved a mannequin and a hunting rifle fired down Vail’s Bridge Street prompting a startled call to police. . . . In April 2025, D. John Sauer ’02M.A. received the United States Senate’s confirmation as President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. solicitor general, the official who represents the federal government before the U.S. Supreme Court. Since then, Sauer’s work has included high-profile cases involving tariffs, birthright citizenship, agency removals and executive authority. He previously served as Missouri’s solicitor general for six years before Trump in 2024 tapped him to argue his side of a dispute over presidential immunity, a facet of the federal government’s prosecution of the then-former president in United States of America v. Donald J. Trump. . . .
Pat Kuntz ’09 helped lead the Indiana Hoosiers football team to a national championship in January as the program’s defensive tackles coach. A three-year starting nose guard at Notre Dame, Kuntz grew up in Indianapolis, signed as a free agent with the Indianapolis Colts, then began his coaching career at his alma mater, Roncalli High School, before rising through the collegiate ranks. After joining Curt Cignetti during the Hoosier head coach’s previous stint at James Madison University, Kuntz followed his boss to Bloomington, where his proteges are known for high sack production and rushing tackles for loss. . . . In January, the United States Golf Association named Toledo, Ohio, businessman Jerry Lemieux ’79 the recipient of its annual Joe Dey Award for outstanding volunteer service and leadership in the game. A 19-year USGA committee member and respected rules official, Lemieux has worked at premier events including the U.S. Open and the Walker Cup, mentored new volunteers and resolved thousands of golfer inquiries as a rules-queue expert. A past president of the Northern Ohio Golf Association, he will serve as general chair of the 2027 U.S. Women’s Open at Toledo’s Inverness Club, where he is a member. . . . Safety Julian Love ’20 and defensive tackle Rylie Mills ’23, ’24MNA, were key contributors to the Seattle Seahawks’ dominant defensive performance in Super Bowl LX in February. During the second quarter, Mills, a rookie, recorded his first career sack, bull-rushing a New England Patriots offensive lineman into quarterback Drake Maye for the takedown in a momentum‑setting play. Love all but sealed the Seahawks’ eventual 29-13 victory with an interception that killed a potential Patriots comeback drive midway through the fourth quarter.