Mike Kolen never been stronger

[aubiefifty 18,231]

Tested by coronavirus, Auburn, Dolphins legend has never been stronger

By Joseph Goodman | jgoodman@al.com

8-10 minutes

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Mike and Nancy Kolen have been married for 52 years, but can now only see each other once a week for 30 minutes because of the pandemic.

And for those precious moments they’re separated by a pane of glass and monitored.

This is a tough spring for us all, but for one of the most respected and accomplished football players in history it has been brutal.

Kolen, whose nickname during his playing days was Captain Crunch, now has CTE from, as he puts it, “running my head into people.” Nancy has Alzheimer's disease. They live in a senior community in Birmingham so Nancy can have the special care she needs.

“It’s difficult,” he said.

It’s heartbreaking, and hurts so bad inside knowing there are millions and millions of people in this country living through this same nightmare with their loved ones. Still, Mike had the grace and kindness to talk football with me for an hour this week.

Kolen played linebacker for Shug Jordan’s Auburn and then for Don Shula’s Dolphins. Shula passed away Monday, and was eulogized nationally all week. There was never anyone better, and Kolen was a major part of Shula’s success.

Kolen was there at the beginning in 1970 for those four-a-day practices at Barry College in Miami Shores. The Dolphins were perfect in 1972, and Kolen, a natural leader, set an example on defense everyone followed. He wasn’t the most athletic, but he was strong and tough and the ultimate professional.

“I think I just fit in well,” Kolen said.

Kolen was a 12th-round rookie for Shula’s first season in Miami, but started every game. After that, Captain Crunch was everything one of the greatest coaches ever wanted in a football player. Did you know that in the preseason before that first year in 1970, Kolen was the strongest player on the team? It’s true. He benched 450 pounds when he reported to preseason camp as a rookie, and then drank every protein shake in South Florida just to weigh 220 pounds.

“I had to do everything I could to get them to notice me,” Kolen said.

Still humble, that incredible Kolen. Still hard-working. Still touching lives with his powerful, unwavering faith in Jesus Christ.

Kolen shared some great stories with me, but our time together was about something more important than football.

GOODMAN: How a Vanderbilt-bound senior would change Birmingham

If religion isn’t your thing, then I am sorry, but you can’t write about Kolen without writing about Jesus. That’s just the way it is with him, and that’s what the man deserves right now during this pandemic. His great strength remains, and it is an example for us all.

The very first recipient of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes National Athlete of the Year award, Mike’s faith his entire life has prepared him for this moment. They wouldn’t let him see his wife for the first 30 days of this plague, but Kolen is praying every day for everyone else. His thoughtfulness and spirit is universal, and he wants his testimony shared.

With his lofty platform, Kolen has touched thousands of lives with his faith in God, and now this might be his finest hour.

“I hit my knees every morning in seeking the Lord, and praying for what’s going on in this world and it’s just unbelievable, really,” Kolen said. “It has been a real challenge for us, but the only choice we want to have, and the only choice we want to make is that God is in control, and that ultimately we are going to have eternal life with him whether that’s tomorrow, or 10 years from now or 1,000 years from now.

“And I know there are a lot of people with this pandemic that have gone through so much more tougher times than Nancy and I have with it ending in death, and ours is nothing compared to them, but in reality when you’re 24/7 with a beautiful woman who cares for you and cares for her children and is a wonderful example of what real life is about, it’s difficult.”

So many mothers like Nancy will be alone on Mother’s Day. My mom is one of them. She is on a dementia unit, too, but at least I can talk to her on the phone.

She wants to know when sports are coming back. Soon, mom. I hope.

The world is starting to slowly open up again, and people everywhere want everything back to normal as fast as possible. There’s nothing wrong with that desire, but is it ever going to be the way it was for our loved ones who are now in the sunset of their time with us?

When will Mike be able to hold his wife’s hand again and pray?

This is the awful reality of the coronavirus pandemic for the seniors and vulnerable among us. Everywhere in this country, people are locked down and locked away. No one talks about it, or talks about it enough. Why? Because they’re not a cog in our consumerism?

I am sorry for the rant, but people are suffering alone, separated from their loved ones, and it is a national tragedy. Mothers are going to be alone on Mother’s Day, and it just makes me wither inside like a thinning flower at the end of spring.

My mom, Iris Ann Goodman, mother of four boys, grandmother of 11, retired nurse, Army brat, lifelong Alabama fan, is on a lock-down floor just like Nancy’s. I haven’t seen my mom since before I left for the SEC basketball tournament on March 10.

On Thursday, our National Day of Prayer, she asked me why God was doing this to her while she cried.

This is the pain people are enduring right now while we talk about herd immunity, and how many football fans are going to be allowed back into stadiums. Hopefully we will have football this season, and I’m hearing that schools are determined to make that happen out of financial necessity, but I hope everyone understands that thousands and thousands of fans of Auburn and Alabama who put away money their entire professional lives to follow our Tigers and our Tide through their retirements are coming to grips with the reality that everything they ever wanted might be gone for good.

But what’s football when people like Mike can’t even be with Nancy after 52 years of marriage.

If that doesn’t rip your heart out, then check your pulse.

How is Mike so strong? After I spoke to my mom, I had to call him back and ask him.

“Lord knows I haven’t lived a perfect life,” Mike said, “but by the grace of God I have grown in my faith and exercised in my faith and have met so many wonderful people who have experienced the same thing. That’s my foundation in everything.

“I have a purpose to be right in the middle of God’s will.”

Strength through faith whatever your faith might be.

I have to think that Shug Jordan saw that in Mike, and Don Shula saw that in Mike and so, too, did the legions of FCA members he has spoken with through the years. Kolen says he has witnessed his faith to groups about 4,500 times.

Make that about 4,500 plus one.

Mike Kolen, Auburn, Dolphins and FCA legend, sang to me over the phone this week, and it was one of the great highlights of my career. The song was a familiar one, but it rang true in a new way coming through the phone during a pandemic. It’s the same song Kolen belted out in front of his teammates that very first week of Shula’s famous preseason camp in 1970.

They were hazing Kolen in the beginning, making him stand before the team in the cafeteria and sing his favorite song, but then everyone fell in love with those words and his Southern accent. By request, and always followed by applause, he sang it to Shula’s soon-to-be historic Dolphins just about every day for five weeks.

“War Eagle, fly down the field,” Kolen piped into my ear. “Ever to conquer. Never to yield.”

It is one of the great hymns of our lives, and we will carry it onward always and forever.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.

[gr82be 14,907]

Thanks @aubiefifty. I started to post that earlier and got sidetracked. Great message for today and for these times we are currently in. God is greater than anything we face if we face it with Him. I'm glad Mike is at peace with this. Eternity is a long time to be anything but at peace. 

[tigerman1186 537]

Had the pleasure of meeting and hearing him at a FCA national huddle conference in North Carolina in the summer of '73; the year following their undefeated season...treated all of us as his best friend. One of the most impressive people in the world. If you had the opportunity to hear Mike, then you know how touched your life is. All my prayers are with him and Nancy. Thanks Mike Kolen for being a true role model and a witness for Christ.  

[auburn4ever 1,266]

My heart and prayers are with Mike and his wife. God bless the Kolen family.

[IronMan70 3,322]

I had classes with Mike back in the day. We talked quite a bit and became friends. He is a great guy.

[Samau 110]

I saw many of Mikes games at Auburn. What a terrific player. I can’t believe he was not drafted until the 12th round. He was a great player with the Dolphins and was on the famous undefeated NFL Super Bowl Championship team.  The thing I still remember most about Mike was just how hard he tackled people. That’s why he got the nickname Captain Crunch. What a great player and man. Being a Christian myself I am glad to learn what a string Christian he turned out to be. Thanks for posting this article.