As a young child battling polio in the early 1950s, Jim Augustine was confined to a room in the Northern Indiana Children’s Hospital, across the street from the Notre Dame campus. On football Saturdays, he could hear the bands, the roar of the crowd and the public address announcer, and he dreamed of what it would be like to attend a game. 

On Oct. 1, 1955, that dream was realized, when Jim accompanied his dad to a victory over Indiana. After the final gun, the 8-year-old was allowed to scour the stands, scooping up scores of ticket stubs. “The family story is that I was so focused on tickets, I passed up binoculars and wallets,” he laughs. 

So began a lifelong quest to collect bits of Notre Dame football history. Later, at St. Joseph High School, the football teams were using the leather “black cross” helmets handed down from Frank Leahy’s Notre Dame teams, and Augustine got to keep his. From there, he built a collection that shows the evolution of the helmet, which remains among his most prized possessions. 

Over the years, his ND items began to fill storage spaces until 2007, when he opened Augie’s Locker Room just a few blocks from campus. Augie’s has been in its current location, at 1811 South Bend Avenue, since 2014—part museum, part memorabilia store. It’s a must-visit destination for ND fans and history buffs when they come to South Bend. 

Augie buys and sells items from all eras of ND football. Yet, there are some pieces he would never consider selling. For him, it is so much more than a business. It’s his purpose since retiring as a South Bend teacher. He serves as the unofficial curator of Notre Dame football history. 

“We want to honor the great tradition and history of how football helped put Notre Dame on the map,” he said. “There are things from the Rockne era that are priceless.”

There are family connections, too. Augie’s father and uncles were youngsters hanging around ND in 1929, while the building of Notre Dame Stadium was taking place. During reconstruction in the 1990s, Augie was able to acquire original Stadium items, including seats, turnstiles, section signs and other signage. “People love everything connected to ‘the house that Rockne built.’”

Augie’s role as unofficial Notre Dame football historian and curator led him, quite naturally, to get involved in the founding of the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. “It’s important to have an organization dedicated to preserving this history and telling the stories to new generations of Notre Dame football fans,” he says.

Customers of Augie’s from coast-to-coast have created “ND shrines” in their homes, featuring treasured items including helmets, footballs, photos, programs, and tickets signed by Fighting Irish coaches and players. Along the way, they have become lifelong friends with the man who greets them warmly, inquires about their family, and gives them a positive vibe when they enter his shop.

“Walking into Augie’s literally transports you into the aura of the all-time ND greats: Rockne, Leahy, Lujack, Lattner, Hornung, Parseghian, Montana, Holtz, Brown, Bettis and Rocket,” says Notre Dame collector Sean Quinn. “Augie himself, with his knowledge and love of Notre Dame, creates an atmosphere where you can feel the Notre Dame spirit. It’s as close as you’ll ever come to reliving the true history of Notre Dame football.”