Regis Philbin became a ubiquitous presence on TV in the 1980s, but he already had decades' worth of experience in front of the camera before then. Even though he's in his late 80s, don't think you've heard the last of this broadcasting legend.

Philbin graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1953, earning a degree in sociology and playing on the tennis team. He's remained a lifelong supporter of the famed Fighting Irish football team. After he stepped down as host of Live! with Regis and Kelly, he lamented that he no longer had a TV platform to heap praise on his beloved team. In 2012, he told ESPN,

"Notre Dame is having a great season and I'm not there to shoot my mouth off with it! That bothers me! I know I got looks from [Live! producer Michael] Gelman and Kelly Ripa when I would bring up the Irish, but I can't believe this season!"

Philbin was especially excited that year, as Notre Dame went undefeated on its way to the national championship game. He declared to ESPN,

"After 20 years of eating crow and watching this team go down, it's a big year for all of us."

Alas, the Fighting Irish lost the title game, and even worse, they were eventually forced to forfeit that entire season due to an academic misconduct scandal. Philbin couldn't have been happy about that.

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Go Irish! | 0:00

Fluke TV debut | 1:17

Stepping in to hosting | 2:17

The "host chat" | 3:03

An infamous walk-off | 3:57

The traveling host | 5:26

The highs and lows of friendship | 6:24

Kelly Ripa's supposed resentment | 7:35

Health scare | 8:35

Guinness World Record holder | 9:42