MIKE SCHROEDER

Mike was a product of Koenig grade school. So I never knew him until he got to Clarke.

Mike and I never got along all that well. Although we were never at each others' throats either. We each just did our own thing.

I had Mike in 8th grade gym class. When it came time to do gymnastics, the door in the southwest corner of the gym was unlocked and open. That's where they kept the equipment. It was also a way to get up onto the stage. Myself, along with Ken Bartz, Greg Flemal and David Coenen would sneak in there during class and play tag. We had to come out from time to time also, so as not to get caught. So instead of saying "Ken's it" we would shorten it to, "Ken's I." Of course that made no sense to anyone non tag-player who may question what we were doing. So we then used to say, "Ken's eye hurts." That way we could tell each other who was "it" without attracting attention. Well it was pretty stupid anyway, as when we were out and about in the gym, we were all jabbering so-and-so's eye hurts. To make a long story short, Mike once said to me, "Your eye's gonna hurt if you don't shut up."

In that same gym class, one day Mike asked if I had the Atari game Joust. He wanted to trade (borrow) games with me for awhile, if I did. I didn't have it though. Or maybe he had Joust, and wanted to trade that to me for some other game I didn't have either. I can't recall for sure. But I do know that Joust was involved in some capacity.

Mike was a really tall guy, and kind of lanky.

In high school, I believe Mike hung out with people like Scott Stephens and Brandon Podhola. I think Markus Petkevicius was also part of that crowd.

I forget who told me this. It was either Meff or Richard. Mike was always known as "Mike." But on a piece of paper or something, he listed his name as Bruce. So he (Richard or Meff) asked him if his name was Bruce. Mike said, "Call me Bruce." But later on he changed his mind and said, "Don't call me Bruce. My name is Mike." I think he changed his mind several times. Obviously Mike was playing some sort of game. I tend to think it was Meff, and not Richard. I think Richard would have tired pretty quickly, and simply call him an asshole. In our freshman yearbook, he's listed as Bruce. In our sophomore yearbook, he's listed as Mike. In our junior and senior yearbooks, he's listed as B. Michael. For the record, I believe his actual name is Bruce Michael Schroeder.

In junior year, Richard and I had a little spat with class of 1988's Paul Streubel. After Paul started a war with us, we tormented him every chance we got. We came to find out that Paul wasn't that well-liked by other people as well - including Mike and Brandon. Everyday after 7th hour, the two of them would see Paul walk past and would mock him by saying, "Hi Paul." Paul of course ignored them and pressed on.

One night I was riding around with Richard, Dave Svatek and Dave's sister Kelly. We noticed a rather lanky figure walking over the bridge. We knew instantly it was Mike. As we passed him, I yelled out a series of obscenities, then told him that I was Paul. Stupidly, the next day Monday in school, I asked Mike about it. He went onto say that Paul had swore at him on the street, and that he was going to kick his ass. I was sort of shocked that he believed that it really was Paul. But I was also amused by it. I don't think he ever did anything though.

Mike had ambitions to become a police officer. And he did just that. I think he worked in Two Rivers for awhile. I ran into him at the video store a few times. He was always nice. In fact, he had a girlfriend at that time. I believe her name was Tori Hodek. And holy crap, that girl was beautiful. I even recall that one day he was looking for some "Captain America" tapes. I never realized that Mike was the comic book fan type. Anyway, Mike eventually married a woman named Su Ann. Today he's a cop up in Medford. I could be wrong, but he might actually sing and play keyboards in a local band too.

UPDATE - 5/17/07 - Mike discovered my blog tonight. He left a few comments in his entry. He also sent me a picture of him and his family. He looks pretty much exactly the same. He has three kids - a five-year-old son, and twin daughters. Mike's presence also jogged two more obscure memories for me. I've already got them listed above. One involved Atari. The other involved a girlfriend.