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I went to SVSU as an athlete. I was on a football scholarship there, and very much appreciated
it because my family really could not afford to send me to college, and I was first generation
in my family to go to college. That was pretty important for me.
If I point to some of my best supporters and mentors over the years, they all have a pedigree
at SVSU. It’s people like *** Thompson, and Gene Hamilton, and Jim Dwyer, and so many
others who were part of SVSU in the early days. And of course the president at the time
was Jack Ryder. Those folks have really been a part of my life over many, many years, and
in most cases we’ve managed to stay connected to each other from time to time.
My coach was Muddy Waters, and he was a friend until he passed away a few years ago. He was
a father figure to me; I lost my Dad when I was a sophomore at SVSU, so Muddy became
a father figure to me. So, clearly those relationships as a student and with the leadership of the
university have continued to be important parts of my career growth.
But if you’re looking for a school that is relatively small, can provide a very personalized
experience, has small class sizes, is going to create an experience where you’ll get
to know not just students, but faculty, staff, and administration, then I think SVSU should
be an ideal place for a student and for a parent to consider.
I came to SVSU in 1974, the fall of ’74. We enjoyed, I think, the same things as students
today enjoy. I still have some close friends who I met during my days at SVSU—I was a
member of the very first football team that we had there—and so you build close friendships
in that environment. But the thing that was probably most important the academic environment.
I was a Business school student, and I wanted to make sure that I had a chance to compete
when I was done, and SVSU has always had a very strong Business school and it worked
out very well for me.