Jeremy Sample ’95 speaks with a tone bordering on surprise, as though he is telling for the first time the story of his professional detour into stunt performance — a career that led to work on the recent hit films Black Panther and Selma.

After a decade of working a tech job in New York, the former Fighting Irish linebacker says he felt “tied to a desk, putting together a project plan,” his days following a rigid structure he found confining. While considering his options, he connected with Stephen Pope ’94 and learned that his old friend had become a movie stunt coordinator. Pope was looking for an African-American actor at the time, so he encouraged Sample to give it a try.

“Coach Holtz would always say, ‘Life is nothing more than a series of decisions,’” Sample recalls. His reaction to the stuntman idea? “Sure. If I’m going to start my life over, this seemed like the obvious choice.”

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