Good morning,..

 I am truly honored and humbled to speak today about a man who I came to interact with by an evolution of names that reflected my changing relationship with him...... Mr Phelps, Coach Phelps, Phelps, occasionally Phelpsie (but never to his face), Coach Mike, and ultimately just Mike.

Its hard not to talk about the wins. SO many wins. 

 As a player I took winning for granted. It was not until I began coaching that I understood just how much preparation and game time adjustment goes in to every single one. And the more you win, the more your opponents prepare for you and the more motivated they are to knock you off the top. Anyone can condition a team in to physical fitness and instruct basic skills but teaching and fostering the mental and emotional toughness in the context of a team first culture where everyone understands and values and feels valued in their role is rare and transcendent and why championships are so elusive for most.

The winning machine that Coach Phelps built was astounding.  His teams out-worked, out-hustled, outsmarted and out -executed everyone , every night  ,  every year. The system seemed to sustain itself and build upon itself with the master conductor pulling all the right levers at all the right moments.

I think Mike's teams were so solid and his sideline demeanor so focused, stern and controlled that he also seemed like a machine. But like all of us, we are much more than we appear.  SO I would like to focus my remarks on the humanity and vulnerability of Michael Edwin Phelps 

The first glimpse I caught of Mike's vulnerability was a the end of my junior  year at ODowd  - 1985 - when for the first time a handful of girls signed up for his summer camp. Well I have to say he freaked out a little bit… and asked me if I would work camp and I think he probably envisioned putting the girls all together in one group with me so he wouldnt have to deal with these foreign beings.  Well it didn't take long for the girls to be fully integrated in to camp and for me to take charge of most of the ballhandling and passing drills.  As it turned out, the girls were generally  better listeners and harder workers and were thirsty for knowledge in a way that is reserved for those who have been given opportunity previously denied. The girls did not ruin camp and in fact they made it richer. That handful of girls got a lot better that week under Coach Phelps, they made the boys better and I'd like to think that Coach Phelps stretched and grew a little bit too,  And while at that time I still far preferred playing to coaching, a pilot light was lit in me that week that still burns today... I love to coach and Phelps was and is my model

Fast forward 20 years and I had the profound opportunity to hire Coach Phelps at Cal State East Bay in Hayward to join the Pioneer Coaching staff. After 3 tortuous years without a team to coach, Phelps was ready to work. He brought with him his immense basketball brain and binders and notebooks and more binders and notebooks filled with his long tested systems and all the time in the world to share it with us.  He embraced his time at Cal State with his resolute focus and intensity and attention to detail and also with a deep appreciation of his thirst to be back in the gym quenched by the opportunity.

How does one integrate a legend into a coaching staff?  Well for us, we sat back and listened and learned a lot. The players weren't quite as attentive early on... frankly they didn't know or particularly care about all the wins; the 843reasons to pay attention!

 Coach Mike had to earn the respect of the Pioneers and he did but it wasn't easy. 

The most obvious Phelps influence on our program was the high post offense. We committed to it and at times the players hated it.  It was simple and elegant with an answer for every attempt to stop it BUT it required exact timing/precision entry passing/ and a level of reading defense that the Pioneers were not accustomed to. But when we got it, it was something to behold. 

I recall one conversation with Coach when I really needed his sage advice. I was frustrated with our big kids not catching the ball.  So I asked Coach, Can you teach someone to catch the ball?  If anyone had an answer it would be Coach Phelps. And he said very earnestly, YES I do know exactly how to teach them to catch the ball. 

Well I Was thrilled by this possibility that had eluded me for years. …The answer… you throw the ball as hard as you can right at their face and I promise you they will catch it.  And that was it… next question. 

To this day I am not sure if he was kidding or he was serious but I think he was serious and he he was seriously funny.

Mike's health was beginning to fail him during his time at Cal State and he was scared and he was frustrated. His mind was sharp but his body was not cooperating. He was fragile and he hated that. We only got to coach together for two years but I learned a lifetimes worth from Coach in that short time. And mostly, I gained a friend and a glimpse of the man beyond the coach. Mike was funny and mischievous in his own way. You really had to pay attention though as often the only cue to confirm his often subtle but laser sharp sense of humor was the little hint of a smirk on his face and a sparkle in his eyes.

OF many possibilities, Three of my favorite phelpsisms are these:

Make the easy pass 

Always guard the (fat kid)  kid with the knee brace.  

There is a reason you are that open 

Make the easy pass –  is self explanatory but so many fail to do so and really is the simple key to offensive success

Always guard the kid with the knee brace.  – common sense and observation defined Coach Phelps… if you don’t have a scouting report, it’s likely a slow kid on the floor is out there because he or she can shoot, so don’t let them shoot!

And perhaps my favorite…. There is a reason you are that open.  

There is a reason you are that open.  

Just left hanging in the air with a player complaining about not getting the ball when she was clearly open and wanting to shoot.  He didn’t explain it, left it there for her to figure out. He didn’t yell or demean. But he gave her an opportunity to reflect and see if she could connect the dots.

I wish I could have played for Coach Phelps but I am grateful that I got to know and love Mike… the strong yet fragile, invincible yet vulnerable, serious yet seriously funny human being who enjoyed so many victories but also suffered greatly. I pray for peaceful rest for Mike and an eternity of easy passes delivered in just the right way at just the right time.  Thank you

I think the first time that I ever saw Mike coach a game was the 1982 NCS championship at Cal State, Hayward. Hayward High vs. BOD.In a game that was overloaded with talent such as Tony Jackson, Tony Ronzone, and Jack Del Rio, one could hardly keep his eyes off of the master that worked the sidelines. Like a great maestro Coach Phelps made move after move that eventually resulted in an O'Dowd OT victory. The game was played in a packed gymnasium and to this day it is still the best high school game that I have ever seen.
I eventually became a high school coach, largely because of that night. Our teams at Encinal competed against the O'Dowd teams in the 90's and Mike was always complimentary and even helpful when he could be. After Mike retired, I ran into him at a summer tournament when I was coaching the Dublin girls in 2009. I asked him about some particular basketball points and he said he'd be glad to help me any way he could. For the next few years, Mike came to some of our practices and summer camps. He came to many of our games. And he was kind enough to invite me to his home in San Leandro for some one on one classroom sessions. I was in awe and honored to have his friendship for these few years. He created binders designed to help the specific needs of our teams. And he even went out of his way to make sure he used the pronoun "she" or "her" to describe particular situations in his writings. Wow!!  The advice and materials he gave me were so insightful and so successful that I always felt that we had a big advantage over our competition that no one knew about.
Of course, anyone who ever went to Mike's house had to spend some time in his trophy and memorabilia room. It was basically a Bay Area high school basketball museum. A true place of honor. I would soak in all the history that defined this man. And Mike was so cool; he would go in the other room for a while and allow me to peruse to my heart's content.
Coach, I just want to thank you for befriending me for those few years and lending your wisdom to our program. You were always complimentary to what I was trying to do and you were always respectful of my limited knowledge and you never tried to over impose your greatness. Your humility and kindness were always prominent.
Rest in peace my friend. The world will somehow have to move on without the greatest high school coach/teacher of all time.

We made it to the championship game of the Babe Ruth district championship which was composed of all star teams from all of the different leagues throughout the East Bay.Mike was the coach of Oakland American because our team,had won the league.He had to choose the all star team from all the teams in our league.He chose me to be on that team and I remember people questioning why I was on it.Let’s just say that guys can be a little insensitive, especially at that age,and I was not the most popular guy on the team to say the least. So we make it to the championship and we are playing Hayward.They have to beat us twice to win the title and advance to the Northern California championships.They beat us in the first game and force the final do or die game.There were a lot of games played in that tournament and I had only pitched a couple meaningless innings.Out of nowhere,Mike decides that I am going to pitch the final game at Cal State Hayward.To this day I can see the guy who wanted to pitch throwing his glove off the fence in anger down the left field line.Note,this guy was a big basketball star at O’Dowd a year later.Needless to say it was a controversial decision and it was pretty tough.Nobody wanted me to pitch.I didn’t”t even want to pitch.The reason Mike chose me was not because of nepotism,but because Hayward was the best hitting team in the tournament and they were great fastball hitters.After just losing to them a half hour earlier,Mike determined that because I didn’t throw hard and had a really good slow curve,that I was the better choice.He did not care what anyone thought.
So we get to the 5th inning and we are ahead 2 to 1,Hayward has the bases loaded,2 outs and the best hitter in the entire tournament at the plate.We get to a count of 3 and 2 and I look at Mike in the dugout and we both know what has to happen.If I throw the guy a fastball he is going to hit it really hard somewhere and if I walk him the game is tied.I have to throw a big slow curve.I do and he is so surprised he doesn’t even swing and the ump calls strike 3.We win the game I believe 5 to 1 and Mike’s gutsy decision proves to be the right one,as usual.Nobody else believed in me, but Mike did