Dwight Clay was closing in on his 21st birthday as the basketball left the fingertips of his right hand on that Saturday afternoon 45 years ago, his indelible jump shot launched from deep in the right corner at what Notre Dame now calls the Purcell Pavilion.
"The Iceman," though, had been born only 12 months earlier.
The legend began in January 1973 when Clay, appearing in just the ninth game of his college career, nailed a jump shot with 2 seconds left to end Marquette’s 81-game homecourt winning streak. That victory over the nation’s No. 4 team helped to turn the struggling Irish into a burgeoning basketball power. Clay’s reputation as a clutch shooter was burnished with a key basket in a victory over Pitt that season, and again with a buzzer-beater against Ohio State to force overtime in the opening victory of 1973-74.
