The Linebacker Lounge: The History and Tradition of Notre Dame's Most Famous Bar

Ask a Notre Dame alum what they do first when they come back to South Bend, and you'll usually get two answers: visit the Grotto, and get to the Backer. Not always in that order.

I've been selling homes and condos around Notre Dame for 27 years, and I've lived in this area for more than half a century. In that time I've watched coaches come and go, watched Eddy Street Commons rise, and watched plenty of beloved campus hangouts close their doors for good. The Linebacker Lounge isn't one of them. Sixty-four years after it opened, the little cinder-block bar on South Bend Avenue is still pouring, still packed on football Saturdays, and still collecting stories. Here's the history and tradition behind the most famous bar in South Bend, and why it matters more to the neighborhood than you might think.

What Is the Linebacker Lounge?

The Linebacker Lounge is a no-frills sports bar at the corner of State Road 23 (South Bend Avenue) and Edison Road, on the northeast edge of the Notre Dame campus. Everybody calls it the Backer. The bar's own signage calls it "The Backer: Across from Notre Dame," which is about as honest a piece of marketing as you'll find in this town.

It is not fancy. The ceilings are low, the seating is limited, and on a home-game Saturday you'll be standing shoulder to shoulder with students, alumni, retirees, and more than a few fans of whoever Notre Dame is playing that week. That's the whole point. The Backer is one of the few places in South Bend where every generation of the Notre Dame family ends up in the same room.

Who Founded the Linebacker Lounge?

The name isn't a marketing gimmick. The bar was literally founded by a Notre Dame linebacker.

Myron "Mo" Pottios starred at linebacker for the Irish before the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in the second round in 1961. In 1962, he partnered with a local businessman, Stan Piezak, to open a bar near campus. The pair had originally talked about building a hotel and bar, but settled on converting the building that housed Eve's Drive-In. The way the local tourism bureau tells it, the young Pottios borrowed $5,000 from Steelers owner Art "The Chief" Rooney against his future NFL paycheck to make it happen. I can't think of a better origin story for a Notre Dame football bar than a Steelers loan and a drive-in burger stand.

Pottios went on to a 12-year NFL career with the Steelers, Rams, and Redskins, including three Pro Bowls and a start in Super Bowl VII. He kept a stake in the bar through his Pittsburgh years before selling his share in the late 1960s. The bar he started outlasted his playing career by more than half a century.

How Has the Backer Survived 64 Years?

Through a lot of owners, a little luck, and a customer base that simply refuses to let it go. Here's the short version:

Year	Milestone
1962	Mo Pottios and Stan Piezak replace Eve's Drive-In with the Linebacker Lounge at 1631 South Bend Ave.
Late 1960s	Pottios sells his share as his NFL career takes him west to the Los Angeles Rams.
1974	Piezak sells to Mike Lind, another former Notre Dame football player.
Late 1970s	Local resident Pat Zappia takes over. Al Delinski starts working behind the bar in 1978.
1980	A fire breaks out. Zappia happens to arrive early, catches it, and the bar never even closes.
1984	Elwanda "Al" Delinski becomes co-owner.
1988	Delinski buys out her partners, and the Backer takes off as the student bar of choice almost overnight.
Early 1990s	A proposed widening of South Bend Avenue threatens to force a relocation. The Backer stays put.
1996	While Notre Dame Stadium is being expanded, the Backer gets its own facelift: new paneling, tile floors, and a north entrance.
2022	After nearly four decades, Delinski passes the bar to two former Irish teammates from the Lou Holtz era.
2026	Still open, still across from Notre Dame, and still packed on game days, 64 years in.

Longtime staff have said there were several moments in the 1970s when the bar came close to being lost entirely. Add the 1980 fire and the road project in the '90s, and the Backer has had more close calls than a fourth-quarter goal-line stand. It keeps coming out on the right side of them.

Who Owns the Linebacker Lounge Today?

For most people who went to Notre Dame between the 1980s and the early 2020s, the Backer was Al Delinski. She worked there starting in 1978, took over as co-owner in 1984, and ran it for close to 40 years. Her husband Greg, who worked for Notre Dame Security at the time, is often credited with helping turn it into the student hangout it became in the late '80s.

In 2022, Delinski handed the keys to a pair of former Notre Dame football teammates who played under Lou Holtz. Their stated goal was simple: keep the bar exactly as unpolished as it's always been. So the torch went from a Notre Dame linebacker in 1962 back to Notre Dame football players 60 years later. The bar's website even invites visitors to share their own "Backer story," which tells you everything about how they see the place. It's not a business so much as a shared memory with a liquor license.

What Makes Game Day at the Backer Different?

If you've only seen the Backer on a quiet weeknight, you haven't really seen it. On a home football weekend the place becomes a pressure cooker of blue and gold. A few traditions define the experience:

• Everyone is welcome, including the other team. Visiting fans are greeted, not heckled out the door. Plenty of opposing fans put the Backer on their road-trip list right next to the stadium.
• The walls do the talking. Decades of photos, jerseys, and Irish memorabilia cover nearly every inch. None of it was designed. It just accumulated.
• Free popcorn and cheap drinks. The Long Island Iced Tea has been a Backer staple for years, and the prices remain refreshingly un-Eddy-Street.
• The sing-alongs. Classic rock and throwback pop, with the whole bar singing. A legendary DJ, Drew, spun there for 35 years before retiring.
• National TV love. According to the bar, when ESPN's College GameDay opened the 2022 season in Columbus for Notre Dame vs. Ohio State, the show led off by talking about the Backer. Not bad for a converted drive-in.

What Food Does the Linebacker Lounge Serve?

This is bar food, and it knows it. The 8-ounce Backer Burger is the headliner, followed closely by the French dip, wings, tenderloins, fries, and the usual fryer favorites. The grill opens at 11 a.m. Nobody drives in from Chicago for the cuisine, but after a win, a Backer Burger tastes like a five-star meal. If you want sit-down dining before or after the game, I've put together a guide to the best restaurants near Notre Dame.

Why Does a Bar Matter to Notre Dame Real Estate?

Here's the part where the realtor in me takes over.

When buyers tell me they want to be "close to campus," they rarely mean close to a classroom. They mean close to the experience: walking to the stadium, grabbing breakfast on Eddy Street, meeting friends at the Backer after the game without anyone having to drive. Landmarks like the Linebacker Lounge are part of what gives the neighborhoods around Notre Dame their gravity. They're the reason a condo within walking distance behaves so differently from one fifteen minutes away.

A few pockets sit especially close to the Backer. Wooded Estates, just off South Bend Avenue, offers single-family homes a short walk from the bar and the stadium, usually without the price tag of Harter Heights. Eddy Street Commons condos and townhomes put you in the middle of the walkable district south of campus. And if you want to see exactly how far each community is from the stadium, my Notre Dame condo walkability map lays it out.

For out-of-town alumni thinking about a game-day home, that walkability also drives rental demand on football weekends. If you're weighing whether a second home near campus makes sense financially, it's worth talking with one of the local mortgage lenders I work with about second-home and investment-property loan options before you start touring.

Where Is the Linebacker Lounge, and What Are Its Hours?

Address	1631 South Bend Ave, South Bend, IN 46617 (corner of SR 23 and Edison Rd)
Phone	(574) 289-0186
Typical Hours	Opens 11 a.m. daily; open latest on Friday and Saturday nights
Founded	1962, by Notre Dame linebacker Myron "Mo" Pottios
Official Site	linebackerlounge.com

Hours can shift on football weekends and holidays, so check the bar's Facebook page before you make the trip. If you're coming in for a game, the Notre Dame football schedule will tell you which Saturdays to expect a line.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Linebacker Lounge

The Bigger Picture

Every college town has bars. Very few have a bar that was founded by one of its football players, survived a fire, a road project, and a string of ownership changes, and ended up back in the hands of its football players 60 years later. The Backer isn't a museum and it isn't trying to be. It's just the place where the Notre Dame family has been showing up for 64 years, and there's no sign of that changing.

Which leaves the question I'd ask anyone who reads this far: what's your Backer story? And if you're thinking about owning a place close enough to walk there, what's keeping that on the someday list?