A Legend to the NFL, a Mentor to Me
Text messages and phone calls were rapidly being shared yesterday by former players and staff that knew Coach Walt Michaels.
The sad news of his passing at age 89 hit me especially hard. This wonderful man, great Coach and my main football mentor had left us.
Coach Walt was a tough but really fair and kind man, one of eight children, from the coal mines of Pennsylvania. When I was growing up, Coach Walt and my dad, team physician Dr. Cal Nicholas, had a great friendship and he was often at my parent’s home. He was never too busy to watch college football with me and teach me the game from ages 13 until I went to college. He was a football man, through and through. Walt was All-Pro for the Cleveland Browns, Defensive Coordinator for the Super Bowl III Jets, and Jets Head Coach from 1977-82! His life was poured into this game.
Thank you, Coach
After all those years of him teaching me the game, I was blessed again to work for him while he was Head Coach and I kept learning from him. We stayed in touch through the years, talking football every Sunday!
I will miss you and I thank you for teaching me when I was only a young girl who just wanted to know everything about the game.
Coach, you will always be in my heart and your influence remains alive during every game I watch.
