Random reminiscing: Julius Michalik

**psychlone99** · 09-20-2012, 10:27 PM

Just a random MBB post about an under-appreciated former Cyclone. My most fond memory of Julius was having him sign a t-shirt for me, then hearing him ramble something off about the team as he handed it to me. I completely forget what he said, but as an early teenager I remember my first thought was that he sounded a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Honestly though, my memories of his play are of him being a heady European (as many of them are) who was horribly awkward but effective. He knew when to dish it, and he knew when to take the jumper. And his jumper was never pretty. I seem to recall him being a lefty, but I'm not sure.

Thoughts on the slightly balding but loveable former Cyclone...

**JohnnyFive** · 09-21-2012, 12:04 AM

I was somewhere between 12-13 years old during the Fred-Johnny-Julo era and Julo was by far my favorite player.

There was something so loveably awkward about him. Maybe it was the deep, almost incoherent euro accent, or the curly afro/male-pattern baldness combo, or the fact that he looked more like a 35-year old arms dealer than he did a basketball player. That dude could ball though.

I heard he coaches high school soccer somewhere in Iowa.

**simply1** · 09-21-2012, 12:10 AM

He's been at tri-center for a while, heard he's kind of an ***.

Michalik

**IHavNoCyCash** · 09-21-2012, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by JohnnyFive

I was somewhere between 12-13 years old during the Fred-Johnny-Julo era and Julo was by far my favorite player.

There was something so loveably awkward about him. Maybe it was the deep, almost incoherent euro accent, or the curly afro/male-pattern baldness combo, or the fact that he looked more like a 35-year old arms dealer than he did a basketball player. That dude could ball though.

I heard he coaches high school soccer somewhere in Iowa.

He is the JV basketball coach at Tri-Center. Know him pretty well. Went against him in high school when he was coaching as an assistant. Had a "good" game and said I was a pretty good basketball player. Meant a lot since he was a successful player and I was a big ISU fan.

Don't know why people would think he's a bad guy. He's appeared at some of the local fundraising basketball events and seems laid-back. He is an intense coach, I will give him that.

He was also in an accident awhile back so he's not 100% physically. Definetely not as fast but still has his jumpshot.

To summarize, he's a good guy and is succeeding at his job. Have some funny stories regarding him when he was teaching me but maybe I'll bring it up in Friday Confessions.

**CRcyclone6** · 09-21-2012, 12:41 AM

Great shooter and a very nice guy. Made some big shots in his career.

**BuffettClone** · 09-21-2012, 06:36 AM

He was one of the reasons that's one of my favorite teams in cyclone history

**Cyclonepride** · 09-21-2012, 07:01 AM

Always like Julo a lot. I think he was the first perimeter and ball handling skilled big man that we had after I became a fan anyway.

I'll never forget the open court behind the back dribble (against Nebraska?) that made his defender fall down.

**isuforlife** · 09-21-2012, 07:03 AM

Julo was my favorite with Fred , great man

**J-Diggy** · 09-21-2012, 07:56 AM

Couple memories of Julo:
1. I remember him beating OU/Billy Tubbs by rebounding his own missed free throw and putting it in. Tubbs said after the game that the "30 year old freshman" was pretty good. He did have a receding hair line even at 18/19.
2. Floyd got hired and Julo said at a Cyclone Club outing, "We don't like to play defense, we like to run and gone and shoot the ball." This is after Floyd had spoken and talked about his value the ball/defense first philosophy.
3. Floyd said after a game that he put .8 (or something like that) on the dry erase board in the locker room and asked the team if they knew what that was. No one knew. Answer: Julo's rebounds per game. Julo had like 12 or 14 boards that night.

Also quite the character. Would see him riding around campus on this rickety old bike that looked two sizes too small....always an amusing site.

**Brentwood** · 09-21-2012, 08:16 AM

I worked at campus bookstore one summer. While manning the cash register this awkward looking tall guy walked in. He loaded up like 3 baskets of ISU gear. Everything from flags to sweatshirts. I didn't realize it was him until he pulled out his lifetime alumni association card to get his discount. My response was "holy **** you're Julius Michalik". He just said yes and walked out with all his new ISU gear.

**jay moe** · 09-21-2012, 08:23 AM

I remember the game he had against Iowa when he drained a bunch of 3's. I think he, Loren, and Freddy were freshmen then.

**VeloClone** · 09-21-2012, 09:07 AM

I don't know about now, but I know that Julo was anything but an *** when he was playing for ISU. I worked at the Iowa State Center and most of the players pretty much ignored us before and after practice, but Julo was different. I got to know Julo and he even bothered to know my name. He would always say hi and stop shooting around to come over and talk for a minute. He had a great sense of humor and was far from full of himself.

He worked for Dick Doyle, maintenance guy for the Athletic Department, one or two summers as well. I never heard for sure, but I was told that he did it for free because as a scholarship athlete he couldn't get paid for it. He just wanted something to do during the summer. I saw him several times over at the stadium when getting ready for stadium concerts and he always stopped what he was doing to shoot the **** when he saw me.

Julo was far from an ***, and I will believe he still is a great guy until I hear something concrete.

**Bobber** · 09-21-2012, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by J-Diggy

3. Floyd said after a game that he put .8 (or something like that) on the dry erase board in the locker room and asked the team if they knew what that was. No one knew. Answer: Julo's rebounds per game. Julo had like 12 or 14 boards that night.

Love that story. Floyd had such a great sense of humor. You get Johnny Orr and then Tim Floyd and that's more comedy than we'll probably see in ISU baskeball the rest of our lives.

**VeloClone** · 09-21-2012, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by Bobber

Love that story. Floyd had such a great sense of humor. You get Johnny Orr and then Tim Floyd and that's more comedy than we'll probably see in ISU baskeball the rest of our lives.

Say what you want about Eustachy being an *** in interpersonal interaction (and they are mostly all true) but Eustachy's post games with Pete were usually pretty fun as well.

**J-Diggy** · 09-21-2012, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by VeloClone

Say what you want about Eustachy being an *** in interpersonal interaction (and they are mostly all true) but Eustachy's post games with Pete were usually pretty fun as well.

Since you brought up how funny Floyd was....I remember him saying to Loren Meyer that if he didn't start working harder the closest he would get to the NBA was the Ruthven Church League. Loren's response "The jokes on him, Ruthven doesn't have a church league."

As for Larry, I once heard him combine the words plastered and wasted into one word, pastered, on the post game. I think I may just get pastered tonight!