Mike Brown was enjoying the festivities of Notre Dame Day, an annual fundraising drive, in the university’s Duncan Student Center when Samuel Jackson and a group of students met him last spring. Brown, who had been the leprechaun at Notre Dame during the ‘99 and ‘00 football seasons, talked to the small group of students about his experience as the first African-American leprechaun at Notre Dame. Afterwards, the group all posed together to take a photo, with their hands in fists and their knees bent, just like the leprechaun mascot.
Brown did not realize the significance of his conversation with Jackson at the time.