Long time basketball guys don't get surprised by much.
And Mike Steele falls into the category of basketball lifer in every sense of the word.
He was a high school standout from Robinson, Ill., and key role player as a Boilermaker guard in the 1970s, including playing for the Boilermakers' 1974 NIT title team. After that, he made his mark as a college head coach at DePauw and East Carolina.
He has spent a three-decade career running his insurance business in Greenville, N.C. where he still works and lives yet still maintains many close ties to his alma mater and the sports world.
So, when Steele, who turned 66 on Feb. 3, found out he had COVID-19 back on July 6, it was a bit of a stunner. And it was scary.
"When I was first diagnosed with it, I hadn't known anyone in my circle of friends or family members that had come down with it," Steele said. "It put me down hard for two weeks where I couldn't do much of anything.
"I got better, and I never had to go to the hospital, so I was lucky. But, having experienced it, trust me, it isn't something you want to have to endure."
Steele now says he knows a dozen or so people that have have come down with the virus. And that is concerning to him and to his family, which includes wife of 44 years Sandy, his two children Derek (38) and Drew (35) and three grandchildren.
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"Drew brought me coffee every morning and left it at my door," Steele said of his youngest son who lives with Mike and Sandy and works three jobs, while suffering from Down's Syndrome. "His attitude is always something special. All of my family was supportive, but the entire experience got all of our attention."
Steele sill has a great deal of concern about how the virus has affected everyone in general, and specifically college sports.
"You keep hoping this virus is slowing, but at least in my experience, it isn't," Steele said. "I think it is really a challenge for college athletics. It doesn't make much sense to me in the student-athlete model that if school is not open on campus, that you can have competitive sports. I think you open up a huge can of worms on whether these kids are professional athletes in that scenario."
Steele has returned to work and is just getting back to doing the things he really likes. One of those things is playing golf, where he is a 12 handicap on one of the tougher courses in North Carolina.
"I feel pretty good now, and I don't appear to have some of the post-COVID issues that others have had," Steele said. "But, I will say it again, 'I was lucky.""
But Steele has always kept basketball close to him. He has friends in all corners of the hoops business and even has frequent conversations with his alma mater's head coach, Matt Painter. He understands why it has been a tough decision on whether to play or not for college and high school sports this fall.
"There hasn't been clear leadership from a national level in both our government and college athletics on this, and that hasn't helped," Steele said. "There is nothing easy or certain about this disease and all of it makes it tougher to effectively deal with it.
