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[QUOTE="Dick_in_MI, post: 5002897, member: 225"]
Mike was always one of my favorite SU players. Not because he was great; he wasn't a top scorer or anything like that. Rather, because he was a "glue" guy who left it all on the court. I love guys like that.

Years later, he would joke that, at the end of a season, no reporters ever asked him if he was coming back next year or declaring for the draft. Cracked me up.

Another memory stands out, however. During his playing days there was an NBA exhibition in the Dome. I forgot the teams many years ago, but what I recall the most that night is Mike. My wife and I were seated next to the railing on the side of the tunnel. At halftime, a few SU players who had come to watch the game wandered back through the tunnel. A group of kids stood next to us and were calling to them for autographs. Billy Owens came over and stood next to us as he signed. Not once did he utter a word or look at the kids. In fact, he acted like he would rather have been anywhere else in the universe at that time. Then Mike and LeRon Ellis came into the tunnel. The kids were yelling for LeRon, and he and Mike came over. LeRon signed and smiled a bit but Mike could not have been more incredible to the kids. He smiled, was very upbeat, chatted with each kid as he signed, asked them questions, and thanked them for asking for his autograph. As he walked away, I said to my wife that Mike's parents should be very proud of the young man that they raised. Total class, and I'm sure that the kids who interacted with him on that night remembered it for a long time.
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