BIG MIKE

A look into Michael Montgomery’s life.

“Black excellence is how we came together to revolutionize the world. Many peo ple can revolutionize the world, but it starts with the one and to me that’s what Black ex cellence is,” Michael Montgomery, senior athlete on Garfield’s var sity football and wrestling teams, said. “Black excellence isn’t something to be upheld, it’s something that’s in us all. If you’re Black you’re already excellent. So I feel Black ex cellence is remember where you came from, your Montgomery football with his older brother 5-years-old. He followed in his and started playing for football team his started playing for his family. “It’s like a tradition… Everybody in my family played football,” he said. But he’s continued to play for himself. “It’s important to me. It’s something I’m passionate about,” he said. He started wrestling his freshman year as a way to connect with friends and his Junior year he placed second at state championships. Though he had many offers for football and wrestling, Michael is now committed to play football at Portland State starting in the fall.

Montgomery plans to play in the NFL after college, but he’s not going to stop there. “Besides professional sports I want to be a neurologist,” he said. Montgomery realizes juggling sports and his potential medical career will be tough, “It’s going to be a lot,” he said laughing. But if there’s one thing Big Mike isn’t afraid to do, it’s dream big.

One of Montgomery’s main goals his senior year is to be a role model for the younger generation of athletes. Specifically, he wants the younger generation to know, “Don’t rely on ability more than your brain. Don’t rely on being fast or strong. You have to critique the small things, you have to focus on technique… that’s how you’ll be great.” Michael believes being a great athlete is like writing a really good paper. You can write down a bunch of words and do fine, but to get that A+ you need to go back and fix all those little errors.

Montgomery doesn’t have much free time, but when he does he enjoys playing chess, swimming and water gazing. “I don’t know if that’s a thing, I just really like watching bodies of water. It’s beautiful.” he said.

Michael has accomplished a lot in his high school career, but he doesn’t like bragging about it, “I haven’t done anything I’m proud of. I only have things I still want to do,” he said. Garfield can expect big things from their own Big Mike.