Anyone who has known Chris Hine during the last four years has learned at least two things about him: 1. He is a huge fan of Carole King and will tell you more about this woman - a person I surmise many of you never knew existed - than you would care to know; 2. He has sacrificed more time, energy and sleep for The Observer than any person on this campus.
Although I have no way of verifying this statement, in all likelihood Chris shouldered an even greater load than most former Editors-In-Chief, as he continued to cover and write articles on both the basketball and football teams, despite taking over the newspaper's top position. If measured in time alone, Chris' commitment to The Observer far exceeded even what was expected of him. Even still, evaluating his commitment solely on the hours he logged still falls short of doing justice to how much of himself Chris invested in The Observer.
I wrote that last sentence because of just how much Chris cared. He cared about putting out a respectable newspaper each day; he cared about writing articles that objectively evaluated athletes, coaches and students while bearing in mind that they were still members of the Notre Dame community; he cared about treating the rest of the staff fairly. Simply stated, Chris Hine cared ... a lot.
Maybe some of you, because of either experience in high school or through having friends who work at The Observer, can appreciate all that goes in to producing a paper each weekday. This letter is for those of you who might not. Up until this past year, I realized I, too, had no idea. So next time you see a typo or a mix-up with a story's "jump line" (what I learned as the term for the directions when a story continues on to another page), maybe remember that the mistake was very likely made while we were sleeping. And if you happen to see Chris around, maybe say a brief thanks for his hard work. He deserves it.
Matt Gelchion
senior
Fisher Hall
Feb. 26
