College of Education (COE)
Bob Finamore’s Memphis Journey from Football to Education
Friday, 11 September 2026
Football brought Bob Finamore to Memphis in 1960. What he found at the University of Memphis, both on the field and in the classroom, helped prepare him for a 35-year career as a teacher, coach and administrator.
Finamore, a native of Wayne, N.J., originally received a four-year scholarship offer to play football at the University of Minnesota. His plans changed when coaches Ray Malavasi and Billy Murphy joined the staff at then-Memphis State University. Finamore followed them south and became a Tiger.
He lettered for three years as an offensive guard and saw extensive playing time as a true freshman. During his time with the Tigers, the team compiled a 30-7-1 record, and Finamore played alongside future NFL standouts Harry Schuh, Bill Scott and Dick Quast.
But Finamore's time at the UofM was about more than football. He was also preparing for a future in education, one that would eventually take him from the classroom to coaching and school administration.
“The educational and athletic experiences I gained at the University of Memphis were instrumental in preparing me for my 35-year career as a teacher, coach and administrator,” Finamore said. “The competent professors in the classroom and the mentoring I received from the coaching staff on the field guided my journey and helped me reach my full potential, both professionally and personally.”
Finamore's playing career included its share of memorable moments. A broken ankle kept him off the field during the Tigers' undefeated 1963 season, but he returned as a senior in 1964 and played both offense and defense.
One memory that still stands out was in 1962, when the Tigers defeated Mississippi State for the program's first football victory over a Southeastern Conference opponent.
“Carrying Coach Murphy off the field in Starkville after the Mississippi State win is a memory I’ll never forget,” Finamore said.
The relationships he built with his teammates proved just as meaningful as the wins.
“The years spent bonding with other young men, both in training and in competition, left a lasting impression on me,” he said.
After his time with the Tigers, Finamore served in the U.S. Army for two years. After completing his military obligation, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Education from the U of M 1968 and began the career that would define much of his professional life.
For the next 35 years, Finamore worked in education as a teacher, coach, driving instructor and athletic director. He spent many years coaching high school football in New Jersey, where his teams won several state titles, and he incorporated lessons and strategies he learned during his time at Memphis. He retired in 2005, carrying with him lessons that began decades earlier in classrooms and the athletic fields.
Those experiences have stayed with Finamore in retirement. He and his brother co-authored Two Jersey Brothers in 2020, a memoir about their early lives in Haledon, N.J. They followed it in 2022 with Bond of Brothers, which traces the different paths their lives took and the relationship they maintained along the way.
More than five decades after earning his education degree, Finamore still sees the connection between the student who came to University of Memphis to play football and the educator he became. The professors who taught him, the coaches who mentored him and the relationships he formed at the University helped prepare him for a career spent doing the same for generations of students.
