I note this from the Tribune article on Sanson:
"One former player wrote a note to Sanson, telling him about a game against Iowa in 1953 when Notre Dame end Don Penza dropped a critical pass in a 14-14 tie. Because of the tie, the undefeated Irish ended the season ranked second.
"At the pep rally the following week, Penza got up to apologize. Before he could, he received a standing ovation.
" 'This has made me realize why I came here,' Sanson said. 'Notre Dame is a special place.' "
I remember reading in Paul Hornung's autobiography that this incident happened during Hornung's freshman year; he and a buddy on the team from Louisville were both bored with South Bend and were considering leaving ND and going back home to play for Bear Bryant at Kentucky. (Bryant had wanted Hornung very badly and Bryant had tried to bribe him to go there (I made up the bribe part, lol), and Hornung had wanted to play for Bear at Kentucky; he went to ND only because his mother, who was a strong Catholic, and who had raised him alone, loved Notre Dame and wanted him to go there.).
Anyway, Hornung writes that this incident happened in the old Field House where they used to hold pep rallies, with the student body jammed in, and Penza stands up and starts to apologize, but is overcome with tears for his failure, and the students go wild with cheers and applause, and the kid can't finish, breaks down, weeping. And Hornung says in his autobiography, words to the effect, "I knew at that moment, I would never leave Notre Dame."
