When brothers Jeff, Mike and Bill Hannon get together, the talk sometimes goes back to Notre Dame High School, from which the three graduated. After all, they certainly have a lot to talk about since their high school years overlapped—to the day! You see, the Hannon brothers represent the only triplets in history to graduate from Notre Dame Harper Woods or Pontiac—and in the Hannons’ case, that graduation day was in 1986.
Editor’s note: Pontiac Notre Dame currently enrolls triplets Sarah, Katherine and Allison Bauer, who are juniors.
For Mike Hannon, it really wasn’t a big deal that his two brothers were in the same school at the same time.
Sure, they sometimes played sports together—either on the track or football teams. “But during the school day, we had different class and subject interests outside of the required courses,” he said, “so we didn’t see each other that often during the day, especially after freshman year. It was funny, though, when kids sometimes would approach me in the hallway and just assume I knew precisely where my brothers were at all times—‘Don’t you guys have telepathy or something?’”
Jeff Hannon said when they were growing up in Roseville, and then in grade school at St. Germaine, the three of them really didn’t know too much about Notre Dame other than the fact that it “unfortunately” was an all-boys school. But as is the case with most 8th graders, it was their parents who made the final decision for their high school. And Jeff thinks it was the perfect decision.
“It was a tremendous experience for me,” he said. “In fact, if I had kids of my own, I wouldn’t think twice about sending them to Notre Dame.”
Bill Hannon, whose son, Jack, is currently a freshman at Notre Dame in Pontiac, was likewise grateful that his parents sent him to Notre Dame. “My experience at Notre Dame raised the bar in terms of setting expectations for myself across the board,” Bill said. “As far as college went, ND made going to college just a given.”
Valor Virtusque
Professionally, Bill said, the most valuable skill he learned at Notre Dame was simply developing and utilizing a good work ethic, which comes in very handy in his line of work. He is in the mitigation and general contracting business as owner of SERVPRO of Novi and SERVPRO of Bloomfield in Commerce Township and much of his work is in fire and water cleanup and restoration, which he's been at it for more than eight years now.
“Notre Dame taught me to do things simply because they needed to be done without being told and then to accept personal responsibility for the results,” he said. “Also, ND’s emphasis on writing, composition and speaking was and still is invaluable to me in this or any business environment.”
Alum Jeff Hannon has been working in the nursery and landscape business for 29 years.
Both of Bill’s brothers concur in how important their high school education was to their careers.
“Notre Dame was hard work, but it was absolutely worth it,” Jeff said. “What I got from my Notre Dame education was a good work ethic, great attitude, and most importantly, the wherewithal to treat people well.” All attributes, he said, that have contributed to a successful 29-year (and counting) career in the nursery and landscape business.
Mike Hannon is a vice president at Ameriprise Financial and manages a $1 billion office in Farmington Hills with clients all over the country.
Mike Hannon is a vice president at Ameriprise Financial and manages a $1 billion office in Farmington Hills.
Notre Dame memories
While high school for the Hannons ended almost thirty years ago, they still retain some memorable moments from the sprawling campus on Kelly Road in Harper Woods and many of those occurred on the track or the field.
“Having participated extensively in track and cross country, my best memories come from my involvement with those teams and with coaches Conrad Vachon and Harold Rice, Mike Hannon said. “There are so many stories in my memory about them both I can scarcely remember all of them, but nonetheless I still do. I miss the entire experience of Notre Dame—it was the first time in my life that I felt I was an important part of something bigger than myself. It led to many lasting friendships and developed a sense of camaraderie that was unlike anything I had ever experienced. They were truly the very best years of my life.”
Like his two brothers, Bill Hannon also was on Notre Dame’s track and field team, but excelled at football, which is where he gained some of his most memorable moments.
“Have to say my favorite sports memory hands down would be beating Catholic Central in football our senior year, 7 to 6,” Bill said. “We all played our guts out in the rain and the mud after having our usual breakfast and Mass together. We were CC’s only loss that year as they went on to win the state championship. Our only touchdown during that game was on a quarterback sneak by Steve Zacharias in the fourth quarter, and Stefano Moracini kicked the point after. I recall Steve running over on my side of the offensive line. Later in watching film of that play, I saw Frank Dickerson push Steve over the goal line and Don Wortham conveniently positioning himself in front of the ref so that he didn’t see it.”
Bill reserves another special place in his memory bank for some of the times he got to play sports at Notre Dame with his brothers. During the school day, Bill said, the fact that he and his brothers were triplets really didn’t affect him much at all. He said they had different friends for the most part and in fact doesn’t remember ever having a class with either of his brothers, though he concedes it probably happened once or twice given the odds.
“What was cool,” Bill said, “was when we were able to participate in football and track together.
He recalls one particular football game as if it was yesterday.
Bill Hannon is owner of SERVPRO of Novi and SERVPRO of Bloomfield in Commerce Township.
Bill said Jeff finally got clearance to play football after their junior year and started working out with the team. He said his brother worked his tail off to get in shape, but was not assigned a starting job.
“I played right guard, so when Jeff ran out on the field and took his spot in the center of the huddle next to me after Lapiana got tossed, I broke down,” he said. “Our coach at the time, Bob Lapointe, was very cognizant of the poignancy of this moment since he knew the story and was nice enough to call a timeout so we could regroup. Everyone on the field knew what it meant to Jeff and me to finally be together side by side on a football field.”
Bill’s brother Mike also figured in another special “brother” moment.
“During the spring of our senior year, we all ran track together,” Bill recalls. “We were at a small invitational at East Detroit and the half mile came up and for whatever reason, no one from Notre Dame was scheduled to run that race. Mike was volunteered to run it by Mr. Rice, and since I was standing nearby, Coach Rice thought it would be fun if I also ran it, even though the longest race I ever ran was the quarter mile.
“So, since two Hannons were running, Mr. Rice said we might as well have all three of them out there and advised Jeff that he would be our third entrant, even though he was primarily in field events like me. Long story short, Mike killed everybody and was at least 100 yards in front of me, but I was able to kick it in a little and squeak out second place. Jeff was about 10 feet from taking third, but ended up fourth. I even remember the newspaper announcing Hannon, Hannon and whomever for the first three places. But needless to say just to have the opportunity for us to run a race together in high school was very cool. Thank you, Hal Rice!”
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.