It says a lot about a college football player when playing football is the least interesting thing he does. For Mike Sadler, this might still be an understatement.
The former Michigan State University punter died in a car accident July 23 while helping at a kicking camp in Wisconsin. The stories about his life began immediately. Overwhelmingly.
About his wisdom, wit and persistence. About his patience, humility and pranksterism.
All week long his family's listened to tales of his generosity and charisma, of his reach that stretched far beyond East Lansing.
"We had no idea how many lives he's affected," said Sadler's mother, Karen Sadler, who took the podium at her son's memorial service Sunday at Spartan Stadium in front of nearly 3,000 people.
In fairness to her, not many of us did. But we got a glimpse of what Sadler truly meant in a stirring and emotional service Sunday.
From Mark Hollis _ MSU's athletic director _ who implored all of us to emulate Sadler's ability to seek out and comfort strangers in a room. To Darqueze Dennard _ a former MSU All-American cornerback _ who credited Sadler with helping him believe in himself when he was struggling to figure out a major.
Dennard had been in the academic coordinator's office one day worried that he wasn't on the right track. Sadler happened by and overheard his teammate's anxiety.
"Ah, Queze, don't worry," Sadler told him. "You can backpedal. You can play football. You're really good at that."
Still, Dennard wanted to know what the secret was to Sadler's academic success _ he was a four-time academic All-American as a Spartan and was set to begin law school at Stanford next month.
"He said, 'I compete at everything,' " Dennard recalled. "(Mike) looked at the classroom as competing with the teacher. He just wanted to make the teacher, you know, look dumb."
That Dennard returned to East Lansing for Sadler's memorial even as he is beginning training camp for the Cincinnati Bengals tells us much about their relationship.
But he wasn't the only former teammate in the stadium.
Former quarterback Connor Cook and offensive lineman Travis Jackson also eulogized Sadler, along with his old youth soccer coach, a high school English teacher, a kicking camp organizer, a childhood friend (and Michigan Wolverine), Hollis, Mark Dantonio, and, perhaps most memorably, his sister, Katie Sadler.
She spoke with the sort of grace and poise and humor we'd expect from someone twice her age, holding the crowd for nearly 15 minutes. Katie, at 22, is two years younger than her brother and shared stories of what it was like to grow up with such a mischievous soul.
"He was so much more than what he let the public see," she said. "Yes, he was an incredible athlete. Yes, he was a scholar. Yes he made it into Seventeen Magazine's 20 hottest college football players, which all of (his MSU teammates) know because they plastered the pictures all over his locker."
But?
"He was also the person that could pick on you for 22 years and still be the one you want to emulate," she said.
Most unforgettably was the time Sadler came running into her sister's bedroom frantically telling her she'd overslept for her 6 a.m. Advanced Placement biology class. Her bedroom alarm clock told her it was 7 a.m., as did every other clock in the house.
So she leapt up, grabbed a 30-second cold shower, jumped in some sweats and a T-shirt, and bolted out the door to her car, hair still dripping, without makeup.
"I was a mile away from school when it hit me," she said. "The clock on my dashboard read: 3:25 a.m."
Sadler was waiting for her back in their kitchen, and laughed hysterically when she barged back in the house in the middle of the night. She was furious. But couldn't stay mad.
After all, in every other way he prodded and pushed and protected his sister. As she told the crowd Sunday:
"Mike, because of you I am strong, because of you I know how to stand up for myself, because of you I know how to laugh. And because of you I know I will be OK."
He left his teammates feeling the same way. Remarkable for a punter, for a specialist, as Dennard joked. For a position on the team that by its nature requires a degree of separateness.
Sadler didn't get to hang out with the defense or the offense. He wasn't in meetings with coordinators all the time. And yet, he was everywhere anyway.
Engaging his thousands of Twitter followers. Sparring with his teammates. Sharing some of that preternatural cool wherever he went.
There's a reason his team wore his No. 3 jersey and marched the length of the football field to begin the service. Reasons they released Spartan green balloons. Reasons they traveled back to East Lansing to celebrate.
In the end, his mother said it best.
"Mike is no ordinary guy and this is no ordinary funeral," she said. "It's exactly how he lived _ big and with purpose."
