Mike had an illustrious career in the sports industry as a senior executive with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Browns, Memphis Grizzlies, San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was a longtime member of the executive committee of the National Sports Forum and had a law degree and a master鈥檚 in sports management from Ohio University. As a marketer supreme, he generated income everywhere he worked. Distinguished all the way. He came to 麻豆原创 in 2013 and served as director of external affairs and partnership relations for the DeVos Sport Business Management Program.

When Mike saw the position at the 麻豆原创 he told me he felt a need to 鈥済ive back鈥� and help the next generation create their paths to success. He especially liked the program鈥檚 emphasis on both business and service to the community. He was all in when we took students to post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans each August to rebuild homes in our Hope for Stanley Program. He mentored the students as they organized the 4.9K Rainbow CommUNITY Run on the first and second anniversaries of the PULSE Nightclub shooting. It benefitted the onePULSE Foundation and this year raised nearly $100,000.

In the two weeks after Mike鈥檚 passing, I received more than 200 emails, texts and phone calls from alumni showing their affection for him and their gratitude to him for the contributions he made to their lives. Another 100 from industry friends. More than 125 DeVos students and alumni attended the celebration-of-life church service. Also, more than 100 friends flew in from out of town.

The students and alumni talked about his encouraging them, his sense of humor, straightforwardness, the fact that he pushed them to try harder, to not allow their vision of work to be confined to a region of the country. Each talked about the specific thing Mike did for them.

‘The students and alumni talked about his encouraging them, his sense of humor, straightforwardness, the fact that he pushed them to try harder.’

But almost all of them talked about watching Mike be a great father. We all had the blessing of being with his children, Sawyer and Jadyn, as they came to the office when they were not in school. Such amazing children.

They were the main reason Mike left the glamour of the industry and took a huge salary cut to work at 麻豆原创. He felt that his moving around was disruptive to his family life and particularly for his children. The combination of his wanting to give back to the next generation and setting up his family in one location for the long-term were the two factors that made the DeVos team the big winner. As the director of the program, I was blessed to work closely with Mike. The students all called him 鈥淩ed.鈥� Among his responsibilities was to organize our DeVos Speakers Series. For the first speaker who came after he passed, the room was a sea of red shirts as all the students wore red in his honor.

I talked to Mike every day we were in the office together and, without exaggeration, most of the conversation was about Jadyn and Sawyer. It was often talk about the now 11-year-old Sawyer at practice or a game. I do not normally enjoy listening to sports fans talking numbingly about sports statistics. But it was different when Mike talked about Sawyer鈥榮 batting average or on-base percentage. He captured my imagination because I knew I was listening to a proud father talking about his boy. And Mike was his coach for several years.

I have a vivid memory of going with my wife, Ann, Mike and Jadyn to hear Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson, speak at Rollins College shortly after meeting them. Jaydn was 11 at the time.聽There were 700 people in the room and when the host called for questions there was silence after the brilliant presentation by Sharon, who is a longtime friend, as is her mother, Rachel.

To this day I cannot remember what she asked, but Jadyn stood up and asked an insightful question regarding race, sports and Jackie Robinson. For an 11-year-old to be the only person to have the courage to stand up and then deliver something so meaningful showed me who Jadyn was. She still impresses me each time I see her. Mike took Jaydn on one of the Hope for Stanley trips to New Orleans. I will always have a picture in my head of them working shoulder-to-shoulder rebuilding someone鈥檚 home.

While losing Mike has been devastating to all of us at DeVos, we know that loss pales in comparison to the loss for his family. Mike鈥檚 wife, Danielle, organized a viewing and a celebration-of-life church service. Ann and I were at the funeral home early and spent time with Danielle, Jadyn and Sawyer, who were understandably very broken up. Then after 15 minutes, eight boys Sawyer鈥檚 age came in. Most were wearing the team jersey as they were all teammates and friends with Sawyer. They sat in a row on the side of the room. Ann said it looked like they were in a dugout. The room changed with uplifted spirits. Once again, a slice of sport brought people together. Then a similar number of Jadyn鈥檚 friends arrived, bringing out her beautiful smile.

I could not help but imagine Mike looking down on the room with his own brilliant smile. He always said Jadyn and Sawyer chose good friends.聽 They were there for them that day and hopefully will give them strength in the future.

Mike loved life and living it to the fullest. But he loved his family and children the best.

That鈥檚 the premise of 鈥淚s This Really a Thing?鈥濃�� a new podcast from 麻豆原创 College of Business Dean Paul Jarley. The college’s first podcast launched today in the middle of Podcast Week and looks at a variety of current topics to determine if they are just hype or if they represent fundamental change that could alter how we do business.

鈥淎s a dean, it鈥檚 my job to think about what the college should look like five and 10 years from now and make sure we get there,鈥� says Jarley, who serves as the host for the interview-style podcast. 鈥淭his is tough. As Bill Gates famously noted, people tend to overestimate the amount of change that will happen in the next two years and underestimate the amount of change that will happen in the next 10 years.鈥�

The first three episodes debate whether eSports, ghosting in the workplace, and Bitcoin are really a thing.

Jarley doesn鈥檛 have to go far to find experts with something interesting to say about any of his topics.

鈥淲e鈥檙e big on engagement at the college, and the podcast gives us a new way to extend that culture of engagement to our alumni and community at large,鈥� Jarley says. 鈥淢any episodes will feature 麻豆原创 faculty, alums, board members and students.鈥�

For eSports, he tapped 麻豆原创 Vice President and Director of Athletics Danny White, Richard Lapchick, director of the , and Ben Noel, executive director of the , 麻豆原创鈥檚 nationally renowned graduate video-gaming program. In the ghosting in the workplace episode, he talks to students, a career coach and a staffing-agency executive about job candidates who stop responding to employers that are trying to hire them. In Bitcoin, 麻豆原创 economist Sean Snaith weighs in on the viability of the cryptocurrency and whether to include it in your portfolio.

And while the topics are serious, Jarley promises that the podcast will not be a typical classroom lecture.

鈥淲e hope to make you laugh a little along the way and leave you with a new way to think about the topic at hand,鈥� he says.

鈥淚s This Really a Thing?鈥� is available through iTunes, Google Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify or by visiting .

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans leaving nothing but endless flooding, destroyed homes, lost lives and displaced families throughout the United States. A year later, 10 graduate students from 麻豆原创鈥檚 DeVos Sports Business Management program, director Richard Lapchick and his family were repairing bicycles and cleaning up parks at a church in the city鈥檚 hardest-hit area, the Lower Ninth Ward.

As the trip went on, the group was approached by many in the community about a man named Stanley Stewart, whose house 鈥� like many others 鈥� was heavily damaged. Stewart, who embodies the spirit and optimism of New Orleans, said he was not going to let the hurricane run him out of his home. He stayed put with his family, but the aftermath of Katrina proved to be more than what he could have imaged.

After the levees were breached by the flooding, his family was left stranded on the top of their two-story house for a day and half before they were rescued and taken to the city鈥檚 convention center for shelter. In all the confusion and without identification, they were inadvertently separated in the packed convention center for a while before they were reunited and later returned to their neighborhood to live in a FEMA trailer. Two years after the hurricane and 10 months after the DeVos program used that first hammer to start rebuilding Stewart鈥檚 home, he and his family were able to return to the home they thought had been taken from them forever.

Soon afterward an idea was born and in February 2007, with the help of the New Orleans City Council president Arnie Franklin, the DeVos program founded the Hope for Stanley Alliance. Since then, volunteers have made 52 trips to New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA, and Tuscaloosa, AL, to help residents get back on their feet. Hope for Stanley volunteers have given more than 50,000 hours of service and have worked on 140 homes. No other organization from another state has done more.

That鈥檚 where my story comes into play. I am currently in the business program coming up on my last semester before I receive my MBA and also one semester out from getting my second master鈥檚 in sports business management. What really caught my attention about the program was the impact the program had not only our Orlando community, but in places across the United States. It鈥檚 just something about sports that has the power to change the world, and this statement still holds true to this day.

Out of 52 trips, I have been fortunate to go on three, which all hold a special place in my heart and have affected my outlook of life.

Here鈥檚 a glimpse into my heart:

During each day in New Orleans my physical, mental and emotional toughness was tested. Painting, scrubbing mold, and learning to install drywall took me out of my comfort zone and put me in a position to grow as woman, as a teammate and as a volunteer.

Though the work was obviously rewarding, it was the long talks and heart-to-hearts with the homeowners about their personal stories throughout Hurricane Katrina that gave me more insight. As the week passed, we were greeted by the residents with encouraging words and constant appreciation for what we were doing for them.

But the people of New Orleans never skipped a beat. We were always greeted with the biggest smiles, they cooked for us (and you know the food was bomb), and we even saw children from the neighborhood playing basketball in the streets like there was never a ravaged city.

This trip put a lot of things into perspective for me. It taught me that in a matter of seconds your life can change. It shouldn鈥檛 take a natural disaster to build a personal connection with someone you鈥檝e never met, let alone an entire community.

For me, walking around the Lower Ninth Ward a dozen years after Hurricane Katrina reminded me a lot of my own childhood neighborhood, which I appreciate for the many things it offered me.

What really made this moment resonant with me was the mixture of positive and negative comments from those working around me. Even though New Orleans鈥� revitalization is not where it needs to be, it has definitely improved since 2005. Being able to take a step back to realize that many of my classmates come from different walks of life and that some have never experienced being in conditions similar to those in New Orleans has turned into a teachable moment for everyone.

Even when they were down, the people of New Orleans showed us their positive energy and a hospitality like no other.

Hope for Stanley is always a trip I look forward to every semester because not only do I get to be a part of something bigger than myself by helping others, I get to do it alongside my classmates 鈥� building lasting friendships and memories that will never lose significance in the years to come.

And to think it all started with the hammer鈥�

Christal Peterson is a graduate student in 麻豆原创鈥檚 DeVos Sports Business Management Program and a member of the President鈥檚 Leadership Council. She can be reached at chhpeterson@knights.ucf.edu.

That sense of optimism can be felt in 麻豆原创 students, many of whom are forgoing sandy beaches during spring break this week in favor of participating in one of the 11 service activities of the a initiative, or working with independent groups.

Two years ago, finance and economics senior Casey Field was working with orphanages in Guatemala to help disadvantaged and disabled children. This year she will travel to the Dominican Republic with Project Esperanza, rebuilding more than 62 homes burned down by fire, working with local craftswomen, and leading sex-education classes.

“When presented with the opportunity to go, I immediately said yes,鈥� Field said. 鈥淏eing able to learn from a community of women in the DR, experience a new culture, and serve with so many fellow Knights is the most rewarding way I can imagine spending my spring break.”

Nhu Nguyen, a human resources major and SGA senator, is volunteering her time in Alabama packaging healthy meals for hungry children in the United States and refugees at the Syria-Turkey border as a part of Feeding Children Everywhere.

鈥淚 joined FCE for experience but I stayed for another semester because I believe in their mission,鈥� Nguyen said. 鈥淔or each ‘hunger project,鈥� we get to assemble between 30,000 and 100,000 meals for children, for both local and international food pantries. It is quite an experience seeing the direct impact of what we are doing.鈥�

It鈥檚 not just undergraduate students joining in the spring break volunteerism.

Graduate volunteers from the DeVos Sport Business Management program are headed to New Orleans as part of the , founded by the program director, Richard Lapchick.聽Fourteen students will help rebuild homes in the Lower Ninth Ward that were affected by Hurricane Katrina and assist with drywall, painting and flooring.

鈥淰olunteering allows me to leave my personal worries behind and see that there鈥檚 a greater need out there, and that I can make a profound difference in people鈥檚 lives,鈥� said graduate assistant Sara Sanchez.

But on Oct. 11 when Angelica accepted the Courageous Student-Athlete award at the National Consortium for Academics and Sports Giant Steps awards banquet, Laurie was in the room, captivated by Angelica’s every movement and spoken word.

“I know I got an award for being a courageous student-athlete,” Angelica said, “but I think that took a lot of courage for her to come, too.”

Laurie got pregnant at a young age, so the two shared a relationship more like that of best friends rather than mother and daughter. Life changed for Angelica at the age of 15.

As a single parent and high-school dropout, Laurie had difficulty finding a job and turned to exotic dancing to pay the bills and support her family, which now included a 6-year-old brother for Angelica. Angelica noticed her mother’s behavior started to change, but she thought it was solely because of her mother’s late-night work schedule.

“Having never been around [drugs], I didn’t know the symptoms,” Angelica said. “Finally, at my high school graduation I saw her asleep in the front row. I just knew that wasn’t my best friend anymore.”

She pleaded with her mother’s closest friend, whom she calls Aunt Roshonda, to tell her what was going on. She finally told Angelica her mother had been abusing drugs and her dependency was getting worse.

Angelica headed off to college, but she carried with her the weight of her mother’s drug addiction, which was leading to arrests and jail sentences. During her first two years at 麻豆原创, when she wasn’t in class or on the basketball court, she didn’t want to leave her bedroom.

“I was always scared that one day I would get a call saying she overdosed,” Mealing said. “I rarely heard from her. The only time I was sane with the situation was when I knew she was in jail because I knew she was clean. I knew she had a roof over her head and I knew she was OK.”

She did not talk about the situation with anyone. Her grades were mediocre, and she admits she had a bad attitude and a smart mouth when it came to life with the basketball team.

Women’s basketball head coach Joi Williams did not give Angelica an inch. The two butted heads frequently during those first two seasons, but Williams refused to give up on her player. She continually preached that no matter what the circumstance, Angelica could not use her pent-up anger as an excuse for her whole life. She needed to try to break the cycle.

“My hope was that if I could help her, it would be well worth it,” Williams said. “I care deeply about each one of my athletes. I will never give up on them, especially when they are making an effort to better themselves and move in a positive direction. It gives me great satisfaction when I look at her now and see the woman she has become and how much she has grown. I am extremely proud of her.”

Looking back on the experience, Angelica grasps why Williams was just as uncompromising in her opinions as Angelica was in her own at the time.

“Coach is concerned about life on the court, but she’s more concerned about what we’re going to do after basketball is over and the women that we’re going to become,” Mealing said. “I understand that now. I can say I appreciate why she was so hard on us and on me in particular.”

As her junior year got underway, Angelica found a new perspective. She doesn’t remember an exact moment that made everything click. All she can recall is knowing that she needed a change.

“Progressively, I started taking baby steps because I knew I couldn’t keep living like this,” Angelica said. “I wasn’t going to get myself anywhere. I was going to lose my scholarship and end up back home doing God knows what.”

Her attitude improved. She pulled her grades up. She was having fun again.

Last year, her senior year, another blow came: She required season-ending knee surgery in February after tearing her ACL. She was devastated.

She knew the team needed her, so she remained a leader on the sideline. For the rest of the season, the Knights dedicated every minute on the court to her.

“As a team, we always talk about when times get hard, what are you going to think about? What’s going to drive you to do better?” Williams said. “Jelly was the motivation that they chose. It was very fitting because she certainly was motivation for me and the coaching staff – just knowing what she had been through and realizing she wasn’t going to play any more games. We did everything in our power so that we would be in a position to win a championship her senior year.”

When the streamers burst from the Don Haskins Center ceiling to signal 麻豆原创’s second championship in three years, Angelica was there on crutches, smiling. The team elected her to accept the trophy on its behalf and also pushed her to be the first to climb the ladder to cut the net.

“I needed that,” Angelica said. “To know that they were out there playing for me, it meant a lot. It was just an amazing feeling. The coaches, trainers, teammates, everybody was very supportive. There were plenty of times over that 2-3 month span where I broke down, and they were always there to pick me up.”

For as long as Angelica can remember, basketball was the only passion in her life. Then she heard about 麻豆原创’s DeVos Sport Business Management program.

Angelica credits 麻豆原创 director of student services Marcus Sedberry and women’s basketball team academic advisor Sarah Hill as the two driving influences that pushed her toward the renowned program. Angelica was scared to apply; fearful she wouldn’t be accepted. Sedberry and Hill insistently encouraged her to give it a shot.

It was then that Angelica opened up about her life in an essay to earn admittance to the program. That essay was grounds for her nomination to the Giant Steps Courageous Student-Athlete award presented by the NCAS.

“It was one of the biggest highlights of my life,” Angelica said.

About a month before the awards banquet, Laurie completed another sentence in jail. When Angelica spoke to her mother over the phone to invite her to the ceremony, it had been months since she had heard her voice.

Laurie did not know her daughter had written an essay detailing her life’s hardships for the past seven years, but she promised Angelica that she wouldn’t miss this moment for anything. Laurie arrived in Orlando a day before the banquet and Angelica shared her essay and her perspective with her mother for the first time.

“She said that it hurt but that it was something she needed to hear,” Mealing said. “Like I said at the banquet, I just leave it in God’s hands. Whatever happens is meant to happen, but I know one day she’ll get out of it. Hopefully this was the push that she needed.”

Mealing graduated with her bachelor’s degree in December 2010 and will graduate with her master’s from the DeVos program in December 2012. She doesn’t know what the future holds, but she is certain basketball will play a role in it.

“I feel like basketball saved my life,” Mealing said, “and any way I can give back to the sport, I want to do it.”

To help with the recovery, 57 DeVos Sport Business Management students traveled to the city this summer to help rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward through the non-profit organization Hope For Stanley Alliance and in partnership with the St. Bernard Project. The students worked at four different locations and helped by putting up drywall, installing floors and other construction projects.

During the trip, the students met with Arnie Fielkow, former city councilman, New Orleans; Greg Bensel, vice president of communication, New Orleans Saints; Hugh Weber, president, New Orleans Hornets, and Rick Dickson, athletic director, Tulane University.

This is the 29th time a group from the program has volunteered to help the city rebuild since 2006.

The New Orleans City Council passed a proclamation commending the work done by the Hope For Stanley Alliance, which it previously cited as the most active external group helping New Orleans in the recovery.

As director of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program, Richard Lapchick was named an honorary citizen of New Orleans in 2007.

This December, DeVos students plan to visit Tuscaloosa in efforts to help rebuild from the devastating tornadoes that occurred this past spring.

For more information on the , please visit their website. Learn more about Hope For Stanley’s most recent trip.

“We’re sold out,” said Dr. Bob Williams, head of the committee responsible for selecting authors from among a host of applicants. “Even Jack Kerouac himself would be shut out if he suddenly showed up,” Williams said.

Event planners were extremely pleased to have some local favorites among participating authors, notably Bob Morris, Pat Duggins, Greg Dawson, and 麻豆原创’s own Richard Lapchick. Authors Sharon Draper and James Grippando and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins have also secured places at the 麻豆原创 Book Festival. “As for Kerouac,” said Williams, “I think he missed our invitation while he was on the road.”