Mike Lewis is a real person but he is also a real character. He is the one who challenged me to go higher, faster and farther than I would have done on my own. You will know him from other stories I have told and you will know that he is the one who is really responsible for my involvement in the first place. This story was not one, in which, I was involved but it is my favorite story of all those that he was involved in.

Mike and I became fast friends from the time he moved to Orem, Utah and started school at Hillcrest Elementary in the fourth grade. We grew apart when I defeated him for sixth grade class president and didn’t really become close again until the eleventh grade. Mike and I both played football during the years between the sixth and the eleventh grades. Living in the same geographical area meant we would be on the same team. Even having had that in common, I was clueless about everything in the ensuing story until he told me at the age of thirty.   

Mike’s football career began in the seventh grade. Usually you rise before you fall. Mike’s experience was not that way. His experience with football started at a low point and went down from there. On the day he signed up, got weighed and got his equipment. The reading on the scale was one hundred and six pounds. The cut off between the middle weight and heavyweight was one hundred and five pounds. So many times in life, fate is determined by seemingly insignificant details. In this case it was two pounds. If Mike had taken time for a bowel-movement that day, his fate may have been different. Instead of being the biggest kid on his team he would be the smallest. Being on the heavy-weight squad also meant playing with the eighth grade boys. Not only did these boys have one year more experience with football but in junior high and even in high school, there is a psychological chasm between grades that is difficult to cross.

 When his equipment was issued, he had nothing to reference to tell him if his equipment fit right or not. The pants and shoulder pads were probably not too hard to get right. The helmet, as anyone who has had an ill-fitting helmet knows, is another thing all together. Even if someone was there to help, all they can do is ask if it feels ok. Of course, if the kid can turn his head around inside the helmet, it is too big. But, even if a helmet feels ok at first, he might have a splitting head-ache in another fifteen minutes. That was the case with Mike. Rather than focusing on drills or blocking assignments, all Mike could think about was how soon he could get that helmet off of his head. Then there were hitting drills. You can imagine that with your head pounding, ramming it into someone else’s was not something to be relished. Mike would recoil when hitting another player.  Physics tells us that less mass and less momentum results in the smaller slower moving object getting squished. To make matters worse, instead of looking past the bars on the face mask, Mike’s eyes were continually fixated on them. You can just imagine a kid running to make a block or a tackle with his eyes locked on the bars in front of his face. Not good.

So there he was, clueless about what he was supposed to do, head pounding and avoiding contact in a sport where success depends on contact. Things went from bad to worse when the prima-donna quarterback thought it would be funny to kick Mike in the face. With a helmet on, the kick might have hurt the other kid more than it did Mike. The humiliation, however, was what really hurt. It was then that Mike quit football.

He quit for two years. His sophomore year, he decided to give it another shot. Now, even though he was with kids his same age and he was one of the bigger boys, he was two years behind them in his understanding and execution of the game. He still didn’t know what it felt like to have a helmet that fit right and his attention still got distracted by those damn bars. He got a chance to play in the first game of the season but screwed up somehow and by the third play of the game, he was on the side-line never to see another play the entire season. To add insult to injury, the last game was in Vernal, Utah; a four hour bus ride. Whether it was regulation or just for the sake of comfort, the coaches decided to leave three boys home. Mike was one of the three.

He accepted his fate but realized that there would be a potentially embarrassing moment or series of moments in school the day of the game. When the announcement was made for the sophomore football team to be excused from class, he would still be sitting there in class after all the other boys had left. If he were wearing his jersey, the teacher would inevitably question whether he shouldn’t be leaving to board the bus. At that point Mike would have to tell the teacher and by default, all of the other students that he was being left behind. Mike considered not wearing his jersey that day but then the other boys on the team would marginalize him when they noticed his lack of solidarity. There were many steps Mike could have taken to avoid the humiliation on the horizon that day but for whatever reason, those steps were not taken and Mike found himself confronted with the exact scenario that he had already seen in his mind’s eye. He had to confess that he sucked and was left back, not just in that one class but over and over again to inquiring students for the rest of the day. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Mike was done with football, again.

That is until Troy Wright came along. When Troy told Mike he wanted to try football, Mike said “good luck.” Troy pleaded with Mike to come out with him. I am sure that the feelings of isolation and humiliation hightened Mikes awareness to what Troy would be going though and didn't want him to go through it alone. So, Mike showed up for football for his junior season, not for himself but because he had the back of a friend.

This time there was something different. His helmet fit and didn’t hurt his head. He could finally see past the bars on the facemask. His coach, Dave Beal, took time to help players understand their assignments rather than just yell at them for screwing up. Mike started to understand what he was supposed to do. Since his head didn’t hurt, he started to put his full size and strength into his blocks and tackles. It felt good! He liked it! Coach Beal was not bound by player politics or other coaches’ expectations. He held challenges every week. In these challenges any player could challenge another varsity starter for his spot. Mike started to do well in these challenges. This gave him confidence to work hard, learn more and take some risks. The coaches noticed and he started to see playing time on the varsity level. This gave Mike more confidence and encouraged him to work harder. By the end of the season he had was seeing considerable playing time on the varsity O and D line. In an ironic twist of fate, the kid that kicked him in the head, turned out to be an advocate for him with the coach. 

The confidence he gained from football was truly cathartic. While it was his nature to be strait forward and even brash, he only asserted himself with people he felt comfortable with. Being a varsity football player made him feel comfortable around nearly everyone. He shed layers of insecurity. His transformation was like that of a chrysalis of a caterpillar into a be-U-tiful butterfly. He was personable with all players. He could relate to the social elite but his experience gave him empathy for those who were struggling. It was no surprise then, at the beginning of his senior season, Mike was voted by his teammates as a team captain. To make the story even sweeter, Troy, Mike's reason for his reintroduction to football, was his sidekick on the O line. 

Mike’s progress as a player seemed to mirror the expectations of the team as a whole. As Orem High School had just jumped the 3A ranks and landed in the toughest football region in the state of Utah, no one expected much of the Golden Tigers. Orem’s first game was against the Brighton Bengals. The Brighton seniors had not lost a game since their freshman year. When the dust settled, Orem had miraculously come out on top 17-9.  With that burst of confidence, Orem summarily trounced Hillcrest and Bingham. Then, we lost a heartbreaker to Alta. With Orem up 14-13 in the last two minutes, an Orem defender made a key stop on fourth down and then received an un-sportsman-like conduct penalty for pulling his imaginary guns from their holsters and firing off four or five shots in the face of the opposing player. Not as serious as if they had been real guns, but it resulted in a first down for the Hawks. Orem’s defense held again and forced Alta to attempt a 52 yard field goal. After they missed, all we would have to do was run out the clock. But they didn’t miss. We lost the game 16-14. We went on to beat West Jordan, Mountain View (Orem doesn’t lose to Mountain View in football) and American Fork. The one loss is a type of for-shadowing, in which, we learn that one seemingly insignificant choice can have big implications.  

 In another twist of fate to which Orem always seemed to fall victim, that one loss to Alta created a three-way tie for the region championship. Alta beat Orem, Orem beat Mountain View and Mountain View beat Alta. Orem lost the coin flip. Twice. If it weren’t for that un-sportsman-like conduct penalty, we would have gone into the state tournament as a number one seed, playing a number four seed. Instead we played Bonneville who had tied with Weber for first in their region. As a second place team, Bonneville hosted Orem in the first round of the state tournament. It is impossible to say whether or not that matchup would change Mike’s life forever. Bonneville had a big strong running back. The University of Utah sent coach McQuivey to scout him. He did his job and then some. He noticed an Orem defensive tackle that was making plays. Mike was then 6-4 and 210 pounds. Those numbers weren’t impressive enough on paper to get the attention of any college scouts, but in full pads, he appeared to be 240 and with his hustle and toughness, coach McQuivey couldn’t resist putting Mike on his radar and by default the attention of the Runnin Ute’s.

It goes without saying that Mike did not grow up immersed in the culture of football. Neither he nor anyone around him informed him of the games that both high school and college coaches play in the recruiting process. He did not know that he was not supposed to record his actual height, weight, bench press and forty time. The custom for players and coaches is to show themselves as a little taller, heavier, stronger and faster as is the case. He did not know that it is the nature of the recruiting process for recruiters to tell recruits that they are the most important player in their class. Mike was led to believe that he was going to be guaranteed a scholarship. So, Mike was shocked one day when coach McQuivey called him and told him the other coaches wanted to give the last scholarship to a kid in California. He advised Mike to come up to the U and meet with coach Jim Fassel to convince him to give him the scholarship.

Mike made the forty mile drive in minutes. Even if he couldn’t run fast, he could drive fast. There are dozens of state-troupers who can attest to that fact. When Mike arrived at the Hunstman Center, Coach McQuivey ushered him down a long hall of coache’s offices with coach Fassell’s office at the very end. Mike steps into the office, offers his had to one of the two men in the room and said “Coach Fassell, I’m Mike Lewis.” The man took his hand and pointing to the other man in the room said, “Son, that’s coach Fassell.” Mike didn’t even know the coach of the school that was recruiting him. Not a good omen. The meeting proceeded with the coaches citing the stats of his competition. He was 6-3, 250 pounds, could bench press 300 pounds and run the forty under 5 seconds. These are not eye popping numbers but they were better than Mike’s. Coach Fassell said, “He is bigger, stronger and faster than you. Why should we give you this scholarship?” Mike looked him in the eye and without hesitation said, “I am more athletic.” Coach Fassell retorted with emphasis, “He is bigger, stronger and faster than you. What makes you think you are more athletic?” Mike replied simply, “I can do a backflip.” With an incredulous expression that said “who does this kid think he is?”, Coach Fassell retorted “Okay, go ahead.” Mike looked around and up at the ceiling and said. “I can’t do it in here. There isn’t enough room.” Dissatisfied with this answer and perhaps thinking it amusing to call this kids bluff, coach Fassell replied, “Fine, let’s go outside.” As they moved back down the long corridor of offices, the coaches called players and coaches out of each office by saying “You gotta see this, this kid’s gonna do a back flip.”

Now, if you have read my story about the first male yell leaders at Orem High, you know Mike could do a back flip. His backflips were, however, not a thing of grace and beauty. As he jumped and rotated, he could barely get his feet under that 210 pound frame before landing on his face. More often than not, he would fall forward on his hands. As he was now surrounded by highly muscular, conditioned athletes and coaches of division one football, this gangly red-head from Orem started to question the wisdom of his words. Mike’s mouth had gotten him in trouble before but standing at the doorway of the home of his U.S. History teacher to apologize for something he said was nothing compared to being surrounded by this group. Seeing no way out, he jumped as high as he could. Maybe it was adrenaline. Maybe it was angels from heaven lifting him up but as he tucked and rotated, he came down and stuck a perfect landing. The crowd erupted! Coach Fassell step forward from the midst of the crowd. He offered his hand to Mike and said excitedly, “Welcome to the Univeristy of Utah.”

Now that would be a great place to end this story, but there is more. I probably don’t need to point out that changing any of the different variables of this story: coming back to football after several bad experiences, that critical penalty against Alta, Mike’s audacity to say he could do a backflip would have changed the outcome of his entire life. What if Mike had accepted the coach’s implication that the kid in California was more talented? Most of us might have internally disagreed with the coach’s assertion that the other kid was more talented but would not have the courage to challenge the judgment of a division I football coach. Who knows what course Mike’s life would have taken. Even without knowing any details of how Mike’s life turned out, you didn’t need me to tell you that one moment, one decision changed the course of Mike’s life.

So why am I still writing? I am writing because Mike’s decision didn’t just dramatically change the course of his life, he changed the course of life for other people too. Mike’s younger brother was a freshman when he was a senior. He worshipped Mike. He tried to act like Mike. In fact, he was over-the-top ,obnoxious in his attempt to be like Mike. The thing was, he wasn’t Mike. By the time he was a senior in college, Mike was a six foot five inch, two-hundred eighty pound second team all-WAC defensive tackle. Chad was six foot six but skinny as a rail. He had tasted the success on Orem’s football teams that had taken first and second in state in consecutive years, but Chad was not really a key player on those teams. Unlike teammates Tyler Anderson and Brian Rowley who were recruited by and became key players for BYU and the U of U, Chad was not recruited, let alone offered a scholarship. In fact, if he had a chance at an athletic scholarship, it would have been as a high jumper in track.

I met up with Chad again in 1992 in Taiwan of all places. I was teaching English and he was a missionary. In my conversations with him he expressed an interest in teaching. I was glad to see that he seemed to have gotten out from under Mike’s shadow. After he went home, I heard he was going to walk on to the BYU football team. I remember feeling exasperated with him. I felt it was almost pathetic how Chad was chasing this pipe dream. I really felt he was trying to walk in shoes that were two sizes too big.

A few months later, I heard that injuries had allowed him to see some playing time at tight end. “Wow,” I thought, “what a sorry statement about the school with such a celebrated tradition at tight end. BYU has had more celebrated tight-ends than any other position with the exception of quarterback. They must really be hurting. A few weeks later, he was seeing even more playing time and had made a play against Wyoming where he had hurdled the only player that stood between him and the end-zone. By the end of the season he was a starter. By then, I was a believer. He started the next three years. His junior year he achieved first team all-WAC and honorable mention All-American status. He went on to play eight seasons in the NFL. He was a pro bowl selection three times and was an all-pro tight-end in 2000. He was a member of the St. Louis Rams team that won Super Bowl XXXIV. He caught the game winning touchdown in the NFC championship game. He wrote a book titled Surround Yourself with Greatness, which, does not include Mike’s experiences with football but as an outside observer, I truly believe that Mike’s back flip that day was a contributing factor to Chad’s decision to walk on at BYU.