It was a great event. Urge anyone who loves SU hoops to try and attend this in the future.
Here is a quick overview of what happened when Mike was honored:
The process of honoring someone started with the emcee, John Nicholson, reading a short review of their accomplishments on and off the playing field. Then a short video was played that talked about the honoree in more detail, with pictures and sometimes video of them in action.
When it was time to honor Mike, John made a nice little intro for Hop, but instead of the Mike video playing immediately afterwards, there was a technical glitch and the screens just showed Mike's name. After 10 seconds of this, Mike turned to good buddy Adrian Autry, laughed heartily and said "I was so bad I don't have any highlights!" and laughed some more. Eventually the glitch was resolved and the video played. It was nice but Joyve and I were both disappointed that the famous picture of Mike with blood running down his face during the
still painful UMass loss in Worcester (damn you Calipari) was not included. That picture. more than any picture or video, epitomized Mike's playing career at Syracuse.
Mike was called to the stage to give him speech. He sprang up to the microphone. Big smile. Long pause. It was clear he was not going to be reading something. It was clear he was going to speak from the heart, and it was going to be emotional.
He started by saying he was from Laguna Beach, California. The most beautiful place on earth. But all he wanted to do was spend time at the 2 basketball courts there. Said he was 12 years old when he first got hooked into college basketball. He was watching a game where a player was just dominating play, laughing all the time as he ran down the court. The crowd was absolutely huge, the announcers said there were 30,000 fans there. The fans were going crazy and were wearing shirts that said things like "It Is Freaking Cold Here".
He couldn't believe the atmosphere and the excitement. Found out the place the game was being played was the Carrier Dome and the player he was watching was Pearl Washington.
As this point, he almost lost it as his eyes met Pearl's. He said as an aside (not sure who he was talking to, maybe Autry?) "No, you were wrong. You said I would start crying 10 seconds in and it has been at least 15".
He went on to thank Pearl for inspiring him. He developed a dream, a crazy dream, where someday he would play at the Dome for Syracuse. I am paraphasing here:
"I was small, I was skinny, I didn't even have hair on my arms. I stunk. I really did. It was a ridiculous dream. It really was.
But I made it my goal and I worked, really really hard. I had a great coach in HS, Coach McKnight, who probably has won more games than anyone, with a 97% winning percentage. He was a great help. And somehow, my mentor, the guy I owe everything to (eyes brimming; looks at JB), somehow he decided to give me a chance (I think they took me only as a way to get other, much better players from my HS down the road).
I am so grateful, so fortunate to be here, to be surrounded by such great people. My dad told me a long time ago, the secret to a happy life is to work as hard as you can and to surround yourself with great people.
I have done that. Not to blow my own horn but every time I went on the court to play, I made sure I gave it 120%. Everything I had. Same thing as a coach. I strive to make sure I give my best possible effort every day. Coach (JB) taught me that and it is a huge part of who I am today.
Went on to thank a lot of his friends, the rest of the coaching staff and support staff at SU, his family and many others. Ended the search reminding the crowd his blood runs Orange, that he loves Syracuse greatly and shouted "Go Cuse" and saluted as he ended his speech.
All 5 of the honorees (it was a hell of a group; their accomplishments were amazing) gave excellent speeches. But Hop was the one that really killed it.
