​An unforgettable Thanksgiving, a football game at Yankee Stadium, and a train ride that took an unexpected detour through Canada.Since Notre Dame has a bye week, I thought we’d take this week’s Throwback Thursday a little off the rails.Literally.Instead of revisiting a memorable victory or one of those classic Notre Dame football games that still makes us smile, I’m sharing a story from my dad’s college days. It’s a story that involves Thanksgiving on Long Island, a football game at Yankee Stadium, one of the most difficult moments in American history, and a train ride home that turned into an international adventure.Oh, and there’s a photograph of my dad sleeping upside down in his train seat.Yes, you read that correctly.But before we get to the train, we need to go back to Thanksgiving 1963.A Thanksgiving InvitationMy dad was a student at Notre Dame when his classmate Mike Fiore invited him and a few friends to spend Thanksgiving with his family on Long Island. The plan was to enjoy the holiday with Mike’s family, explore a little of New York, and attend Notre Dame’s Thanksgiving Day football game against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.Mike was studying civil engineering at Notre Dame, following in the footsteps of his father, who was also a Notre Dame graduate. My dad remembers Mike’s father as a highly accomplished civil engineer who had worked on bridge projects.The Fiore family welcomed the young men into their home for the Thanksgiving holiday, treating them to a wonderful dinner and giving them the opportunity to explore Long Island and New York City during their visit. They arrived Wednesday evening, attended the Notre Dame–Syracuse game at Yankee Stadium on Thanksgiving morning, and spent the rest of the holiday weekend enjoying time with friends before heading back to South Bend on Sunday.For a group of college students, it sounded like a pretty terrific Thanksgiving getaway.But the timing made this particular holiday unlike any other.On November 22, 1963, just six days before Notre Dame and Syracuse would meet at Yankee Stadium, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.When I asked my dad what he remembered about that Thanksgiving, he told me the country was still very much in shock.It’s difficult to imagine what those days must have felt like for a group of young college students. They were away from campus, spending time with friends, and looking forward to a football game, but the entire nation was grieving.And Notre Dame’s football team had experienced that historic week in a particularly unusual way.A Football Season Overshadowed by HistoryIn 2018, Notre Dame published a fascinating retrospective titled “Yankee Stadium, Circa 1963,” written by Matt Storin, who had served as the senior manager of the 1963 Fighting Irish football team.Storin, a member of Notre Dame’s Class of 1964 who went on to a distinguished journalism career, offered a firsthand look at a difficult season and a