Remembering Mike Whicker

As many of you know, Mike Whicker passed away recently. He was so many things to so many people. A husband. A father. A grandfather and wonderful family man.

He was also an author, a teacher and a coach. But to me, he was my friend.

I first met him when I was a player but really got to know him when I became an assistant coach for the cub team in 1996. We had some exciting teams that were really fun to watch and won a lot of games.

When Mike was working on his first book, he used several of the cub coaches as characters. I was FBI Agent Dan Engler. He had me get beat up by a girl, which still happens to this day as a referee at WWE.

Speaking of professional wrestling, he once helped me organize a benefit show at the National Guard Armory. I even got him to agree to be special guest referee for a ladies wrestling match. He always had a big grin about that.

Mike also put together several wonderful pieces for ReitzFootball.com called the Legendary Game Series.

Mike helped me plan and implement the Reitz Football Hall of Fame, bringing together many legends from Reitz’s history. While his sons, Josh and Zach, are inductees, Mike is not and I would like to fix that.

Mike always liked to joke around. However, I was able to get him one time with one of my April Fools Day pranks. Part of the gag was that Whicker was going to write one final Erika Lehmann story, this time with himself as the protagonist, battling the evil Nazi. [Whicker announces plans for fourth book in series]

The most impressive thing about Coach Whicker was just how inspirational he was. He never stopped wanting to challenge himself. He was a plumber but wanted to go back college to finish his degree so he could be a teacher. He wanted to be an author and ended up writing 33 books. He helped bring the LST-325 to Evansville, an amazing piece of history that will serve this city for generations to come.

My deepest condolences to the Whicker family. I really wish I could be at Mike’s service today but I’m in Manchester, England for work.

I know he loved to travel abroad and I walked around the city and took in a museum, thinking about how much he might enjoy the sights, sounds and history, despite the rain.

I’ll miss you Mike. You’ve touched so many lives, including mine. Thanks for all the wonderful memories and for believing in me.

Your friend,
Dan “Rudy” Engler