Old school might be selling it short.
It’s almost as if Notre Dame graduate student defensive tackle Kurt Hinish stepped in a time machine from three decades ago and landed in South Bend to play football in the present day. He’s definitely more of a fit to have played years and years ago.
Let’s start with a simple fact. Hinish plays one of the most physically demanding positions in the sport. His job is to plug holes and take on double teams at the line of scrimmage by ramming into 300-pound offensive linemen. Every. Single. Play.
Yet, somehow, Notre Dame’s game against Virginia Tech Oct. 9 was the first time Hinish missed a game in his life. Not in youth league. Not in middle school. Not in high school. Not at Notre Dame. Not ever.
“I was losing my mind,” Hinish said. “I really was.”
Hinish holds a record that might not ever be broken. He’s played more games in a Notre Dame uniform than anyone else who came before him in the 115-year history of the storied program. Senior Day against Georgia Tech was Hinish’s 59th game played in the classic gold helmet. He made his 60th appearance at Stanford.
Hinish missed the Virginia Tech game with migraines. He first thought the headaches were complications of a concussion. When he told his father that wasn’t the case, the response was only fitting.
“He blew up on me,” Hinish said. “He said, ‘You could have been taking Ibuprofen and playing?’”
Old school.
Hinish later clarified concussions aren’t anything to take lightly. And he didn’t. As old school as he is, he traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., to get looked at by a specialist recommended to him by the Notre Dame team doctor. Sitting out the Virginia Tech game was also a sign of seriousness.
Had Hinish been throwing up in the locker room before the game because of dizziness, though, none of his teammates and coaches would have suspected anything was wrong. Puking is merely a pregame ritual for Hinish.
“I throw up in the garbage can before every single game no matter who we’re playing,” Hinish said. “Every single game.”
Old school.
People from Pittsburgh have a reputation for being tough and for being prepared for the moment in ways others just aren’t. Hinish embodies that in every way.
When Hinish was young, he was hit in the face with a hockey puck. He chipped his tooth, and the dentist fixed it by putting a cap over it. On the morning before a football game shortly thereafter, the cap came off while Hinish was eating breakfast.
“My nerves were showing,” Hinish said. “I couldn’t breathe because every time I did, the air I breathed in would make it hurt super bad.”
Hinish quickly went to the hospital 10 miles down the road and had the tooth fixed — again. From there he hustled to the field and finished out his game. His dad was his coach, of course. There was never much thought about letting Hinish sit out.
One doesn’t play five dozen games for one of the most renowned college football programs of all time without being built different. Hinish used to wear a shirt that said, “Ice or grass, we’ll kick your ass.”
“You know, for the Steelers and the Penguins,” Hinish said with a sly grin.
They just don’t make too many like him.
“He brings that toughness, that grit, that demeanor of a defensive lineman in terms of how they go to work every single day,” former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. “It’s been a standard that has now been part of that legacy on the defensive line at Notre Dame. Kurt has been part of that.
“He also brings an incredible mentality. Carrying the torch as a captain and a leader. He’s vigilant in the standards we have set here — high standards. He’ll be sorely missed as a captain, leader, presence and personality. He’s a no-nonsense guy. He’s a throwback in a lot of ways.”
Senior linebacker Bo Bauer called Hinish “old man time.” He gave Bauer a tour of campus on Bauer’s official visit way back when. Bauer said he’s been someone who has been there on and off the field for him ever since the two connected that day.
Asked about his favorite Hinish moment, Bauer neglected to give one. But given Hinish’s history with migraines, garbage cans and hockey pucks, Bauer probably had something in mind that might have been a bit over the line.
Bauer sat with a smirk and chuckled a few times in response to the question.
“Yeah, I’ll just say Kurt is a great guy, and he’d do whatever it takes to make sure the team is right and acting right,” Bauer said.
Old school.
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