Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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16 SEPT. 16, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED finance with a minor in innovation and entrepreneurship, Finke enrolled in a yearlong accelerated masters fi- nance program locally to stay foot- ball eligible. But beyond his offseason football training and daily course work on campus, Finke had also committed to four hours of weekend graduate classes in Chicago. He traveled there every other Friday and Saturday for about six months prior to the football season. "Long days," said Finke, who learned something about time man- agement from his older sister Sarah, who earned her civil engineering de- gree and MBA from Notre Dame. AN UNLIKELY JOURNEY That Finke even landed at Notre Dame is as unlikely as him eventu- ally becoming a team captain. Kelly was on a visit to Alter High School in early 2015 to chat with Domsitz and to share some face time there during a basketball practice with Irish football commit Nick Coleman. Finke, a basketball teammate of Coleman's, had just arrived back to Alter that day after a football visit at nearby University of Dayton when he crossed paths with Domsitz and Kelly in a high school hallway. On a whim, Domsitz used the chance meeting to promote Finke to Kelly as a preferred walk-on candi- date and a potential punt returner at Notre Dame without tying up a scholarship. Finke — a.k.a. The Slippery Fox — returned 10 punts for touchdowns in high school and had just set the sin- gle-season record at high-powered Alter for return yards as a senior. A "preferred" walk-on pays his own way academically, but still en- joys the same meal, facility and other benefits the scholarship players re- ceive. After some homework and film study, Kelly was intrigued. "We thought at a minimum," Kelly recalled, "if we took a preferred walk-on who had great ball skills, and could be a punt returner, and was fearless, that would be a good get." That's the serious part of the story. The amusing part is that Finke was less than enthusiastic about the offer, providing an "I guess so" response to Kelly's "Do you want to come to Notre Dame and play big-time foot- ball?" question. "I was kind of stunned and gave an answer I'm not proud of," joked Finke, who quickly accepted the in- vitation over similar offers from Wis- consin, Pittsburgh and Miami (Ohio), where younger brother Jimmy at- tends on an academic scholarship. "Luckily, he still gave me a chance after that." Looking back, perhaps Finke's "dis list" members might deserve a thank you note? "It kept me angry a little bit," Finke said in recollection. "Nowadays, I play more to prove people right." ✦ A Memorable Moment While announcing to the media last month that a player vote was what determined the seven 2019 captains, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly explained that 70 percent of the Irish included fifth-year senior wide receiver Chris Finke on their ballots for the honor. "In any election, that's a landslide," Kelly said. "That tells you a lot about what [Finke's teammates] think of him." In a unique approach to unveiling Finke and the others as captains for this year's team, Kelly and his staff compiled a video presentation featuring seven former Irish captains to individually announce the new crew. For example, former Irish quarterback Brady Quinn introduced current signal-caller Ian Book, and legendary Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o welcomed to the fellowship a fellow Hawaiian, safety Alohi Gilman. Special teams ace Austin Webster, who took a similar path as Finke by going from walk-on in 2014 to team captain in 2017, introduced Finke, calling his former teammate's selection a "no-brainer." "This was kind of a finally moment, let's do the obvious," Webster said. "Chris is such an obvious cap- tain, so let's just cut to the chase. It was an honor to have the chance to congratulate him." When asked to elaborate, Webster said that Finke defines "lead by example" in everything, all the time. "Being a walk-on, even with his talent, he always had to prove himself to the coaching staff because I think they doubted him during his freshman and sophomore seasons," Webster added. "And so to see how that didn't get into his head, and when he was given opportunities and then to completely shine, it was just a matter of time before he first earned a scholarship and then became a team captain. To all of us walk-ons, that was obvious." So, is this a modern day "Rudy" story? Finke said no thanks, emphasizing, "I kind of try to distance myself from that. I think I had some aspira- tions to — not to knock Rudy and his story — achieve as much as possible and set my sights really high." — Todd D. Burlage Of Finke's 49 receptions in 2018, nearly two-thirds resulted in either a first down or a touchdown. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA