A New Way of Honoring Mike

Mike's friends from Brother Rice started the Mike Sennett "Count on Me" Memorial Scholarship a year or so ago. Their goal is to have the scholarship fully endowed in three years. To assist them in achieving their goal, the Brother Rice Lacrosse Alumni are making the annual alumni game the Mike "Steel" Sennett Memorial Alumni Lacrosse game in his honor. The event will be held on June 7th, 2009 at Brother Rice High School, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. If you would like to attend, please contact Renee Lynch at lynch@brrice.edu to RSVP or to donate if you can't make it. A more detailed flyer will be available on the Brother Rice website shortly. www.brrice.edu. This is the 1st of what we plan on being an annual event to remember Mike and all that he meant to us. I think it's right up his alley...guys playing lacrosse enjoying some good food, friends, and drink!

Hope to see you all there!

Chris Cote'
Rice '86

My angel and hero. I love you baby

I have never posted on this blog before and I have actually never looked at it until this month. I have wanted to look and read what people have written about Mikey for the longest time but I have never brought myself to actually do so. I had a special relationship with Mike. He was not only my uncle, but he was a role model, a big brother, a mentor and a best friend. I have been avoiding reading these posts mainly because I did not feel like crying. I feel now that I am ready to share with you, whoever reads this, my stories and memories of mike. I can remember so many things that mike did through for me and with me through his years that it’s hard to pick just one to share. One of the reasons I loved being around him so much was because he was like a big brother to me, when he would visit I remember him rolling up in his car from the airport and me running out to the car to see him. He would step out of the car with brief case and spit bottle in hand, grab me and kiss me and every time he came I looked forward to that, even though it was such a small gesture it meant so much to me. When we would be lounging around on Sunday or Saturday mornings, he would watch movies and play games and I remember he would always have to patience to play all day and would put himself at my level. Whenever he came home we would go to national coney island on woodward and chow on coney dogs and chilly cheese fries (he often picked them up on his way to our house from the airport as well) when we would visit in saint Louis, we would go out to eat then as tradition go to Oberwies for ice cream after our meal no matter how full we were. These are just the little traditions and memories that I, as well as my family held with Mike. It is hard to believe he is gone but it is amazing to see how he still has such an influence in so many peoples lives still to this day. I never knew how many people my uncle helped and how much he had done for so many people. He truly was an amazing man and everyone who had the chance to meet him I know was blessed by the experience for he really was so remarkable. Something so hard goes straight to the soul; it seems impossible to get over and my heart is left with a big hole. I'm trying to be happy, wearing a smile; but I'm dying inside. The world seems to be fading, and I just want to run and hide. Everywhere I go I see your face, and realize how much I miss you; and on the day you died a piece of me died too. I could talk all day about Mike and tell stories but I am going to leave here with a passage from one of my favorite songs .. What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts:

Sunny days seem to hurt the most
I wear the pain like a heavy coat
I feel you everywhere I go
I see your smile, I see your face
I hear you laughing in the rain
I still cant believe your gone

It aint fair you died too young
Like a story that had just begun
But death tore the pages all away
God knows how I miss you
All the hell that ive been through
Just knowing no one could take your place
Sometimes I wonder who you’d be today

Would you see the world, would you chase your dreams
Settle down with a family
I wonder what would you name your babies
Some days the skies so blue
I feel like I can talk to you
I know it might sound crazy

*Mikey I miss you so much you would never know. I think about you everyday and remember all the memories that we made. I know your in a better place and as much as it hurts that your not still here I know you still are. I love you and cant wait to see you some day.

All my love always and forever,
Count on me forever… even when it seems too hard.

RIP angel
Love
Rachel Sennett

I woke up yesterday and immediately put on the state champs of 1996 hat that Coach Sennett gave me one afternoon before practice senior year. I thought it was cool then, but now it simply means everything. As I walked around the campus of Mizzou, I was overcome with the amount of players whom I had played against in high school, not even from DeSmet, coming up to me and telling a story they had about Sennett. It is amazing the amount of respect he has from everyone from the DeSmet community, the lacrosse community, and the rest of the world for that matter.

Like others, Coach felt like a second father to me. 2 years ago I sat as a freshman in my dorm room at Wittenberg University. Not happy with how the season had been going and more or less not happy with my coach, I called Sennett. I simply asked his advice on what I should do. The conversation lasted just over an hour as I sat there and listened to every single word he was saying. Little did I know this would be the last time I talked to him. I took his advice, confronting my coach and quickly finding myself on the field again, playing like I did for him.

I can remember the phone call from my mother delivering the news of his passing. Coincidentally, I was on a bus on the way to play our last game of the season. I can remember having to wake up Reinberg, Birner, and Gerber, all the while in tears not knowing what else to say. I can remember having to call Spencer Hampton and telling him too. But we all knew he was there with us, watching over us and was by our side. It brought us closer together than ever before.

If the world had just a pinch of the character that Coach had, this would be a better place. I know that there is no way I would be the man I am today without the character I built at DeSmet, and most importantly the care, generosity, and passion of Coach Sennett in my life. I can only hope that I live my life with him as my model for success.

Count on me Coach, I will always miss you.

Jim Bunten 06'

Godbless #40

I can't even believe that it has already been two years. Like everyone else, Coach Steel made an enormous impact on my life and future. In my case he completely turned mine around; he picked me up, dusted me off, and threw me back in. When my father moved out early freshman year at DeSmet, Coach stepped right in. When my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, he and the whole team rallied around us. He tought me and everyone how to be tough... real tough because that was his motto- give life everything you got.

For four years he was there for me, pushed me to be my best in everything. He tought me everything I know about how to be a real man, friend, leader, teammate, son, sibling, and brother in Christ.

Because of him, Chris Goudy, the whole DeSmet Jesuit administration, I can say that my teammates and I are men for others, men to count on. I am so honored and lucky to have had that experience, and to be able to live with his values for rest of my life.

Thank you again Coach. Godbless #40,

Spencer K Hampton, DeSmet Jesuit '06


An Irish Blessng
May the road rise to
meet you
May the wind be
always at your back
May the sun shine
warm upon your face
May the rains fall
soft upon your fields
And until we meet
again
May God hold you in the palm of
His hand.

still cant believe he's gone

well the date is here again this year, i recieved a nice letter about mike's brother rice "count on me scholarship" as i'm sure many have , and i was so pleased at how well the fund has done , but not surprised at all. this time of year cant come for me without reflection on mike and how he touched us all. i'm sure he is on a very important mission for our Lord and i understand that, cant help but still miss him.
phil hunt 4/27/09