I wore #11, because my favorite
number 7 was taken.  I should have insisted, but I didn’t
want to get the number from senior Tim Trimiere

I got a scholarship to play football at
Hiram Scott College, literally up the ditch bank
from where I lived.

I received more basketball and
baseball scholarships… and as I’ve mentioned Darrell Royal thought I
was too small and too slow — NOT A MAJOR COLLEGE TALENT.

After competing for and winning the starting
quarterback job — I was recruited for defense, FYI. The
private school’s president embezzled and left with a large state of money
causing athletics to be halted. All scholarships ended after
we beat Chadron State College (the local rival), the team went 6-2-1 and was
invited to a bowl which we could not attend.

I tossed a 7-yard pass and our tight end ran for a
93-yard touchdown, the longest in stadium history.

Upon finding myself out of a job, I was recruited by
Wyoming and Weber State, and Northern Colorado — since I was a Wyoming high
school player and narcissistic, I assumed that I would prove to them they
made a mistake by not recruiting me the first time, since we (A) had gone
undefeated my senior year and were ranked #3 in state — #1 Laramie (AA)
refused to play that year….

I had around 1500 yards total offense for 8 games
(didn’t play the first game with a broken finger — another story for another
time…  It’s the only game we almost lost 12-7) and I
only played half the time because we scored an average 48 pts a game (93-7;
70-0 homecoming in blizzard, etc)

I went to Wyoming with big hopes, but they didn’t give
me a chance at QB which they promised (I soon realized how college sports
manipulate players). But undeterred, I intercepted 2 passes
in a spring game and ran one back for a touchdown. After the
game I went to head coach Fritz Shurmur’s Office and turned in my cleats!

I next went to the mountains, cut wood, lived like
Thoreau (only, my mother’s house wasn’t through the woods for a nice Sunday
meal), fought a forest fire, learned to drive a caterpillar, and learned
firsthand how it feels to face death in a crown fire. 

Later, I went home to Torrington, got an apartment, as
it was the first time I hadn’t played football since 6th grade… and became
a bull rider (another story) and in November of 71, I joined the marines.
Christmas in boot camp, now that is stupid.

I did well — series honor man and dress blues winner
(got married on 4th of July 1974 in my dress blues — go figure), and went to
admin school = Remington raiders!

Finished first — my mother forced me to go to summer
typing classes in high school and I was the only boy.

That’s another story about the best summer of high
school, maybe I’ll share later, or not.   Thanks
Mom!

Upon finishing first, I got my choice of duty stations.
I decided to go to legal school and finished 2^nd.  I got my choice of duty stations again and no promotion because I got
PFC in boot camp and lance corporal in admin school, which was automatic for
top finishers. But I had been in the marine corps 6 months and
they wouldn’t give me my promotion to corporal (that came at 13 months after
football season in 72′).

I chose to go to Subic Bay, a rearward staging area for
Vietnam, but it was said to be the best duty station in the USMC.

Two weeks before shipping out, the all-marine football
circus came to town.  Long story short, I was one of the 950 marines chosen
to go to Quantico for 3 days in August — no Subic Bay.  I
didn’t make it to Subic Bay until 2009, before I was planning to take up
residence in Kuala Lumper.

I was recruited by 50 schools coming off my first year
and the last — defense appropriations cut — now I’m 3 programs in… and I
decided since I was still a “cowboy” — a lover, a fighter, and
now a wild bull rider — that I would be a veterinarian and
where else but the #1 vet school in the world.

Assistant coach Dan Lagrasta saw a 1×1 clipping of me
running for a 70-yard touchdown and passing for 2 in our USMC win
over Xavier in our farewell game and tracked me down, recruited me — I
stayed in his house — and the rest is history.

They put a provision in my scholarship that I couldn’t
rodeo anymore.   I
had a PRCA [Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association] card because military
were allowed to ride in ProRodeo. So, I did ride against some
of the best. I have a picture somewhere of me in San Diego
aboard WASP, a big bull who was ranked and at the time Larry Mahan was
riding. It was great fun.

Ok, those are the facts as I remember them.

Mike 

PS: The following is a news clip of our Texas A&M 1975 season:

The 1975 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented
Texas A&M University during the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. The
team was ranked second in the nation late in the season before losing its
last two games. The Aggies finished as Southwest Conference co-champions
with both the Texas Longhorns and the Arkansas Razorbacks. The three
co-champions each finished with a 10–2 overall win–loss record and a 6–1
record against Southwest Conference opponents.

Season summary:

The 1975 Aggie football team started its season with
ten wins. Its tenth victory came on the day after Thanksgiving Day (Friday,
November 28, 1975) over the Texas Longhorns at Kyle Field before a national
television audience (ABC). The Aggies were ranked second in the nation after
the game against Texas, but starting quarterback Mike Jay suffered a back
injury in the 20-10 win over the Longhorns. The next game came eight days
later, a Saturday, December 6, matchup against the Arkansas Razorbacks that
had been rescheduled from its typical early November timeframe due to TV
scheduling concerns. With Jay injured, Texas A&M backup quarterback David
Shipman was called upon to play against Arkansas, who was ranked 18th in the
nation. The Aggies were trailing 7–0 at halftime and they lost by a final
score of 31–6.

Before the loss at Arkansas, Texas A&M had appeared to
be headed for the Cotton Bowl. Instead, the sixth-ranked team faced the
unranked USC Trojans in the Liberty Bowl. USC had been ranked in the top
five teams nationally in early November, but they struggled late in the
season and came into the bowl game with a 7-4 record. The Aggies suffered a
20–0 loss and finished the season ranked #11. The 1975 Liberty Bowl was the
final game for USC coach John McKay, as his success had earned him a job
with the NFL expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

PPS: This is Gary.If you would like
to read how Mike’s Texas A&M Aggies lost their last two games, just send a
short note to me at support@leadu.com
and I will put it in my next newsletter.