Message from Tom

I went to high school with Mike in Michigan and lost touch with him many, many
years ago. I just heard the tragic news about Mike but am heartened (and awed)
by how many lives he touched in such a positive way.

I wanted to tell one quick story about Mike from almost 20 years ago. For those
that played for Mike over the years, they may not have known how hard Mike
worked to be a lacrosse player and what a good player he became.

Mike and I had played on a state championship team together in high school in
1986. My memories of Mike was that he was someone who just loved the game and
worked so hard to get better. He was always one of the last to leave the field
and was always working on something to improve his game. Some others had more
natural talent than Mike, but no one was going to outwork or out-hustle him.

Mike and I both went on from Brother Rice High School to play lacrosse in
college. It was a big step back then, because all of the spots on the college
teams were filled by kids who had been playing lacrosse on the east coast --
kids who had been playing the game since they were quite young. Mike and I both
picked up the sport in high school and worked hard to learn the game.

Mike and I were home from college one summer -- I believe it was the summer of
1988 -- playing in a lacrosse league at Cranbrook in Michigan. Coach Bill
Tierney, the head coach from Princeton University, would come through Michigan
each summer to have a lacrosse camp in the area and always brought with him some
great college players to help coach the camps. One of those players was Dave
Pietramala, widely considered to be the greatest defenseman to ever play the
game (he is now the Johns Hopkins head lacrosse coach). In the evenings that
summer those of us who were trying to play college lacrosse from the Michigan
area would get together to scrimmage at night. This time some of the coaches
from the camp decided to join in, included Dave Pietramala, who was about to
enter his senior year at Johns Hopkins (he would go on to become NCAA Player of
the Year that year).

I had played against Dave in college that year and knew how dominating he was.
He could take over a lacrosse game from the defensive end of the field --
something I had not seen before in college lacrosse. Well that night Dave was
having fun -- taking the ball away from every one and running down and scoring
multiple goals. It as a complete mismatch -- the greatest defenseman ever to
play the game, at the prime of his game, versus a bunch of high school and
college kids from Michigan, most of whom had only started playing the game in
the last few years. When most attackmen caught the ball and Dave was covering
them, they passed it along to the next person as quickly as possible.

Well, then Mike checked into the scrimmage. The first time Mike touched the
ball (he was playing attack on the wing) he charged right at the mighty Dave
Pietramala, drove him up high above the goal line extended, and then did a quick
inside roll and fired the ball at the goal. Before anyone knew what happened,
the ball went past the goalie's ear into the net for a goal. Everyone just
dropped their sticks and went crazy. Dave was shocked and a little embarrassed
-- he never thought he could get beat for a goal by some kid from Michigan,
nonetheless someone a couple years younger than him. It took enormous guts of
Mike to try that move against the greatest defenseman in the land.

It is said that no one beat Dave Pietramala during a college lacrosse game the
entire year in 1989. Well, the summer before that season, in a scrimmage at
Cranbrook, Mike scored (one-on-one) against the greatest defenseman to ever play
the game.

In reading this blog about Mike, it seems like that is how he lived his life --
without fear.

I am proud to have known him.

Tom Barnds