Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/259072
BY LOU SOMOGYI D uring his junior year at Chicago Marist High School, star tight end Nic Weishar incurred a torn labrum that jeopardized his football season. He opted to withhold surgery so that he could play through the campaign, and then have the procedure afterward and miss basketball season instead. He couldn't have envisioned making that decision two years earlier. "Coming into high school, my goal was to be a basketball player in college," Weishar recalled. "I thought that was going to be the route to take just because I was tall and skinny." In the 51-year history of Marist High and its basketball program — which included 1990-94 Notre Dame forward Carl Cozen — Weishar became only the fourth freshman to start on the varsity. Soon thereafter, he discovered that in football head coach Pat Dunne's pass- oriented spread attack, the "other" sport might be an even better option. Northwestern head football coach Pat Fitzgerald agreed by offering a scholar- ship to the 15-year-old Weishar prior to his sophomore year. Nic Weishar Remains His Brother's Keeper The Weishars — (from left to right) Joan, Dan, Andrew, Don and Nic — at a Chicago White Sox game in 2012. PHOTO COURTESY NIC WEISHAR