Why Mike Reid was my favorite college football player

… more than just a great player

The best college football defense that I have ever seen was the 1968 Penn State Nittany Lion squad. I am biased because I was a student there at the time. However, it featured two players who were not just All-Americans but who went on to become All-Pros in the NFL.

One of them was a defensive tackle named Mike Reid, who played his high school football for the Altoona Mountain Lions. There, he was a 235-pound fullback before becoming a 265-pound defensive lineman at Penn State.

Not only did he become a first-team All-American as a senior, he won the Outland Trophy, which is awarded to the top interior lineman in the NCAA, and the Maxwell Award, given to the player of the year. Reid finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy that season. He was also a heavyweight wrestler there for a time.

Penn State also went undefeated that year and could have played for a national title were it not for a mistake made by Coach Joe Paterno. Sad story there.

Pro Career

Reid was the seventh player selected in the 1969 NFL Draft when picked by the Cincinnati Bengals. Reid had been selected to the Pro Bowl twice before decided to retire in 1974 in the prime of his playing career. The reason that he did so is the reason that he is my favorite player.

Indeed, Reid was a music major at Penn State and could play the piano. Paterno referred to him as a concert pianist, but he was not that good. However, he was good, and that is what his true career and goal in life became.

Musical career

Reid turned to country music and has become a renowned composer and singer. He composed Ronnie Milsap’s “Stranger in My House,” which won a Grammy in 1984. He then became a singer and had a number of singles that were successful. “Walk on Faith” became a number one hit for him.

In 1992, he composed “I can’t Make You Love Me” that Bonnie Raitt recorded and became a major hit. He has written for artists like Wynona, Collin Raye, Alabama, and Tim McGraw.

He also composed the music for a Civil War musical entitled “A House Divided.” Reid has also been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In short, Reid was more than just a successful football player. He had an intellect and some artistic skill that he turned into a successful career. You often hear coaches talk about Div. I “student-athletes,” but 99 percent of the time, the words are reversed. They are athletes but marginal students who could care less whether or not they were students.

Mike Reid epitomized the student-athlete. He competed at a high level in football and reached the highest pinnacle in the game, the National Football League. However, he realized that he had talents, skills, and an intellect that could take him to the heights in what was much more important.

Reid is also a quality human being, and character is also something that is missing in athletes today.

Cut ties with Paterno, Penn State

After his football career ended, Reid never returned to Penn State, nor did he talk to Paterno. “I lost touch with Penn State and Joe,” he said in an interview with the Times West Virginian after the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke in 2011. “My life went down other roads.”

Disenchantment

Reid decided to put his previous life behind him as he pursued a life in music as he approach 30 years of age. “When I was there it was 46,000 we got into the stadium,” he told the West Virginian. “My sophomore year was Joe’s first year as head coach. We were the beginning, me and Jack Ham and a number of other really good players and people. We were the beginning of what he called at that time ‘The Grand Experiment.’ In those days, it was true. It did feel like it was important to him to do things properly … I think I lost touch when the thing grew to a dimension that it was hard for me to relate to. Joe went from being Joe Paterno, the man I played under, to becoming a cultural icon – JoePa.”

Reid lost the desire to return to Penn State as he saw change that he considered what not positive. “We also have to beware, and I hate to use a cliché as a cautionary tale, but I lost touch because the thing just got so … he became such an icon and the university became so massive that I went from feelings of warmth about the school to it seeming to be an economic monolith. It was hard for me to relate to having been there.”

Shock at Sandusky revelations

Reid played at Penn State for a season when Sandusky was a senior. He was shocked a sickened at the revelations that came out in the indictment. “Every page your jaw is hanging out,” he said. “It was more than I and probably anyone involved with Joe or the school or who knew Jerry could get your mind around. As it unfolded it got worse and worse and worse. Finally there was the firing (of Paterno) and then the report he was dying of cancer.”

Conclusion

Mike Reid was more than just a football player. He became a success in life, which is the most important aspect of obtaining a college education. He was a fabulous defensive lineman in college, but he was more than that. He had an intellect, and when he saw that the school was no longer what it was when he was there, he pulled away from it. That takes character, and that is why I really like him today, as I did back in the 1960s.