Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/109499
informing him that Kekua was dead. Her "death" and Te'o's ensuing inspired performance on the field created the feel-good story of the year in college football. It ballooned each week while the Irish marched toward a national championship berth and Te'o became a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. Kekua called two days before the Heisman ceremony to tell Te'o she was still alive and had spent the last few months in hiding because of her family's connection with drug dealers. Te'o said he was angry and felt something was amiss when he got the call. Mostly, he was confused. "I didn't know who to turn to," he told talk show host Katie Couric in his only on-camera interview since the news broke. "I did not know who to tell. I did not know who to trust, and I was scared. I was scared and I did not know what to do." He tested Kekua for another three weeks before he decided he needed to tell someone that she might not be real. April 28, 2012 — Kekua's purported brother tells Te'o that Kekua was hit by a drunk driver and is in a coma at a Southern California hospital. They were supposed to meet two weeks later. He confided in his parents the night before Christmas and later called head coach Brian Kelly and defensive coordinator Bob Diaco to inform them of his suspicions on Dec. 26. Notre Dame and athletics director Jack Swarbrick launched an investigation, and on Jan. 4, three days before the Irish would lose to Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game, they told Te'o that Kekua did not exist. He had been duped. When Did Te'o Make A Mistake? Te'o does appear to be the victim of a hoax. Only the adamant conspiracy theorists still believe he was complicit in masterminding a public relations scheme from the very beginning, but that doesn't he mean he didn't unwittingly add to the tangled web of lies. Several profiles of the campus star in the fall, including articles in the South Bend Tribune, Sports Illustrated and this publication, detailed in-person meetings between Te'o and a woman who never existed. The press certainly May 11, 2012 — Te'o flight home for summer includes a layover in California. He later says he didn't stop to see his injured girlfriend because he didn't want his parents to be upset with a delayed arrival. June 2012 — Kekua tells Te'o that she has been diagnosed with leukemia. The news spawns months of marathon overnight phone calls between Te'o and Kekua. Sept. 12, 2012 — Te'o fights with Kekua in the morning after he tells her that his real grandmother, Annette Santiago, passed away. Hours later Te'o receives a phone call from Kekua's brother saying she succumbed to her cancer.