RIP Michael Colley

Mods, feel free to move this to JTO if you think it fits better there.

Michael Colley was the football and men's lacrosse SID at the University of Virginia. Michael is probably my favorite SID that I've worked with in my young career. He had a heart attack Saturday while vacationing with friends.

Michael was a true professional with a wicked sense of humor. He was genuinely happy with his job and at the University. This is a tremendous loss and a sad day for UVa.

 

Terrible news. How old was Colley? Ballpark?

Anyone whose job was dealing with Al Groh was sainted on earth. RIP, Michael.

 

Mid-to-late 40s, by my estimation.

 

Damn. Damn. Damn.

Here's his bio from the U.Va. site. He was a C'ville native and had worked there for 18 years.

http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&ATCLID=3738364

 

Thanks for the link, IJAG. Michael just seemed like one of those people who was doing what he was born to do. Any press box or sideline was more fun when he was there.

 

Wow. I found Michael to be incredibly helpful in my dealings with him in recent years. This is a shock.

Thoughts are with the family.

 

Very sad story. A wake-up-call for all of us in our 40s.

 

Total punch to the gut. Such sad news. RIP.

 

RIP

 

Honestly, when I first started covering the U.Va. football beat, it took me a while to acclimate myself to Mike's dry wit. I didn't "get him" at first, but as time went on, I grew to appreciate him as a funny, funny guy who could take as good as he gave while also managing to epitomize the word professional.

He helped me countless times with rounding up players who had one way or another managed to avoid coming to media availability, even though he could've just taken the easy road and made some lame excuse why they were unavailable. His efforts made covering the early Groh years, with the whole "one voice" BS, as manageable as humanly possible.

RIP to one of the truly great ones in this God-forsaken business.