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When Sam Hartman moved from the Wake Forest Deacons to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, he had no idea his name would be headed for reasons unrelated to sports.
The midfielder underwent surgery to remove a rib last year after being diagnosed with Paget-Schroeter syndrome and underwent several procedures.
The first surgery was to deal with a blood clot. The second surgery was to clean the tissue and remove the rib closest to the collarbone to prevent any further clots by allowing more space for the vessels.
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Asked to keep the rib afterwards. He then gave it to his mother, Lisa Hartmann, who he said made a rib necklace for him.
When asked about the unusual request from her son, Sam’s mom had a simple answer:
“He means the world to me, so if he wanted me to clean the meat off his ribs, that’s what I would do.”
This will be Sam Hartman’s sixth season of eligibility after spending five years at Wake Forest.
He recently appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter where he explained how bright the lights can be while playing on a historic program like Notre Dame:
“It was surreal. I mean, I think hearing your name alongside one of the most historic programs in the country is pretty cool, but it’s also humbling. You know the expectations when it comes to being a football player at Notre Dame and also being a quarterback at Notre Dame.”
He’s not just a mildly unconventional character. His statistics place him as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play college football. He is the Atlantic Coast Conference record holder for touchdown passes, with 110.
The story of Sam Hartman
Hartmann had the opportunity to draft in the NFL this year, but decided to transfer to Notre Dame instead. He explained why he decided on SportsCenter:
“I love playing soccer, and I know going into the NFL is a tough job. There are small percentages, and I thought I could play in the NFL, but I knew I had one more year of eligibility and why not try a shot at a new place and a new scheme.” And again, it’s Notre Dame. I feel like that kind of answers itself from history.”
He played 12 games last season even with injury and threw 12 interceptions and 3,701 yards for the Deacons. He led Wake Forest to an 8-5 missing record in just one game.
Notre Dame is playing Navy in its first game on Aug. 26, and Hartman could have an interesting piece of jewelry ready by then.
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