Month: October 2011

During my senior year at the University of Michigan, I had an apartment in a sub-divided house that was owned by Cincinnati Bengals tight end Eric Kattus, himself a former Michigan alum. I lived in that two bedroom, second story apartment with the backside entrance for sixteen months and had several roommates along the way. Floating in and out were Chip from L.A, Craig from Camden, New Jersey, and John. Despite having an Italian surname, John hailed from the wilds of rural Michigan, somewhere near Howell I think. John was a nice guy with a typical Midwestern 1980s mustache. Like Chip and Craig, he was working on an engineering degree at Michigan.  And though we’ve not stayed in touch, I have fond memories of him.  John was a very honest and amiable guy.  In particular, I remember him cooking up venison burgers made from the meat of a deer that his brother had shot.  I laid off meat over 15 years ago, but back then I was partial to the mushroom Swiss. We were joking around once when John quoted his father saying: There’s two kinds of people in this world.  Those who like Hank Williams and those who like Hank Williams, Jr.