Tommy McNamara is all of 6’1”, 166 pounds and is in the middle of his senior year at Notre Dame. Unless you’re a fan or follower of a certain team on campus, you’ve probably never heard of him.
But McNamara became Notre Dame’s newest hero this past weekend.
Now before you start looking for a list of football walk-on’s or basketball bench guys, know that you won’t find his name there.
Nor will you find him listed as a forward on the hockey team or any team currently in-season for that matter.
So who in the world is Tommy McNamara then and why should you care about him?
Because the senior lacrosse player did something this past Friday that almost nobody, let alone a young man in his early-20’s with undoubtedly a million other things on his mind, would do.
According to The Observer, McNamara was having lunch with a friend in a South Bend restaurant last Friday when he noticed a patron acting suspicious.
McNamara watched the person long enough to see them walk in and out of the restaurant multiple times before they grabbed a purse and made a break for the door.
Instead of simply yelling “stop!” from his seat, McNamara decided to chase the suspect.
But it wasn’t a fight McNamara was looking for to get the purse back, it was help he was simply trying to offer the troubled youngster he pursued.
“He was entirely apologetic. The first thing he said was ‘I’m sorry,’” McNamara said. “He’s sitting there thinking, ‘do I or do I not want to steal this woman’s purse?’ What’s crazy is I saw him leave the place a couple times — he would walk out, then walk back in. … That’s kind of why he was in the corner of my eye. He was just apologetic. … He was like ‘I don’t want to be doing this.’ It was a tough conversation, but a real one. That’s why I wanted him to be able to reach out.”
Upon his return to the restaurant McNamara was greeted like a hero, receiving a round of applause and even a blessing from a priest who was also happened to be grabbing lunch.
When I saw this story I thought it was going to end like a bad Hollywood movie or music video, with McNamara beating the tar out of the thief and getting the purse back. I’m beyond thrilled to now know that isn’t the case.
Instead he took the opportunity to see a teenager do something inexcusable and instead of teaching them a lesson physically that he like could have, McNamara offered a helping hand to what he seemed to see as some sort of cry-for-help.
I don’t have anything much to add to this story besides that on Thanksgiving week and with the rest of the holidays approaching, it felt like a story that should be shared.
Hopefully we can all take a lesson from McNamara and the next time we see someone crying for help in whichever way it may be, we offer a helping hand instead of simply ignoring them or worse even, judging them to ourselves before ignoring them as we walk by.