1998 Volume 121 No 1–4 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

I
MOST 15-YEAR OLDS WOULD BE SCARED OUT
of their wits at the prospect of having surgeons
peel back their face and cut open their skull
for a tricky operation to remove a tennis-ball
sized tumor.
But Mike Minette, Case '99, could only ask his doctor
one question:
"So I can't play football this season"
"The surgery really didn't concern me at all," Minette
says. "The doctor looked at me like I was a moron."
Minette, when he was a high school student at Northeastern
High School in Springfield, Ohio was bailing hay to
get in shape for the upcoming football season when a headache
too strong to ignore led to the discovery of the tumor.
Within weeks, Minette was in the hospital for surgery
that would put an end to football for the season, but more
importandy, the tumor was a non-cancerous vascular malformation.
He left the hospital five days later with a scar
across the top of his head and a strengthened desire to play
football again.
"I think being an athlete helped me recover," Minette
says. "It occupied everything I thought about."
Minette admits to feeling sorry for himself after surgery,
but counted on friends to help. One of these friends, fellow
football player Sam Ricketts, was at his house when he
came home from the hospital. Ricketts was the star quarterback
at Miami University this past football season.
"I walked in and he told me 'that's what legends are made
of.'"
Within a week, Minnette ventured onto the football field
to run around with friends. After two months, he was wrestling
again.
A year later, Minette was cleared to play football and returned
to the field. Teamates gave him the nickname "Crazy
to Play". He played with a special protective plastic shell on
his helmet and his return to the field made his parents nervous
but not the resilient Minette.
"I fear regret," Minette says with a smile." I don't want to
regret things I didn't do."
After high school, Minette applied to Case because of its
reputation and his desire to enjoy big-city life. He started as
a biomedical engineering major but later switched to nursing.
He walked on the university's football team and started
all four years.
This past season, Minette played his final year as a safety
for the Case football season. A team captain, he logged 122
tackles and caused four fumbles. Minette will return to
Case for a fifth year next year but his football eligibility is
over. He will miss football but, other than watching some
games, will stay away from the sport next year.
Many of his Case chapter brothers play on the Case foot-
Above; A scar from surgery rings Minette's head. Right: Minette
Case football practice. Photographs by Chuck Crow. Reprinted w
permsiion from The Plain Dealer Copyright 1997. All rights
reserved.
ball team. Minette says his
Case brothers have been supportive
friends throughout
college.
After graduation, he plans
to head out West to pursue
his nursing career, but
doesn't limit his future plans
to nursing. He is very interested
in forming some type
of organization to help kids
who are struggling to recover
from health problems.
"I like to help people,
that's what sets me off,"
Minette says. "I'm pretty persistent
and I'm pretty sentimental."
During this past football
season, Minette made special
arrangements to visit sick
"I think
being an
athlete
helped me
recover. It
occupied
everything
I thought
about/'
children at the Carnegie-Mellon Instititute after Case
played there.
"I hung out with some really young kids, just playing
and having a good time with them," Minette says. "I've always
been a hero for the underdog."
Looking back on the good fortune following his surgery,
Minette admits he may have been too concerned with football,
but says the experience taught him valuable life lessons.
"I think that's what life's all about," Minette says. "It's not
necessarily quantitative, it's qualitative."
http://www.phidelt-ghq. com THE SCROLL WINTER 1998 25