Mike Uhrich refers to his Ricks College football days as “magical.” He remembers the snow, his undefeated football team and the impact of his friends and coach.
Uhrich said he still has a memento from his college days, a jersey he calls “The Jersey that knows no defeat.” He said he wore it two years in a row and in 1994 the team was ranked number two in the nation.
“We played a very difficult team and ended up having an undefeated year,” Uhrich said. “Coach (Ron) Haun—this is from his own words, everybody’s going to be mad at me for saying this—but Coach Haun said it was the greatest team he ever coached.”
Uhrich said Coach Haun’s actions were impressive, that he cared for and trusted his team and their leaders.
“I remember Coach Haun, from his own money, he would go to Brolum’s with sometimes 4 or 500 bucks and he would buy tons of groceries, and he’d go drop them off to guys who didn’t have any food,” Uhrich said. “He would do that routinely.”
While at college, Uhrich studied music and continues to play piano today. He especially enjoys playing music for those experiencing hardship. When Uhrich heard his coach was diagnosed with glioblastoma, he was able to travel with some friends to play music and visit.
“The special part of what music brought, how, oddly brought the coach and I together,” Uhrich said. “I was able to go to Coach’s house and I asked Coach’s wife, Beverly, and his daughter, ‘What can I do?’ They asked me to come play music for them, and so I did.”
To hear more stories from Mike Uhrich about his music and time at Ricks College, listen to the full interview on BYU-Idaho Radio’s podcast on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.