It happened during his class trip to Italy in February. Mike was a 17-year-old junior at Northwest Catholic High School, and he was expecting a phone call from Charlie Weis, the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He knew Notre Dame was interested in recruiting him.
As it happened, the call came the day before the Pope's Mass, and Mike agreed on the spot to be the first recruit in the country to commit verbally to the 2008 season.
"The next day was Ash Wednesday. We were at a papal council," Mike said. "We would have had to leave the Pope's Mass. That would have been a tough call."
So far, the calls have been going Mike's way. In October, the 6-foot-4, 270-pound center was chosen to play on the elite U.S. Army All-American football team. He is one of only 84 high school seniors chosen nationwide, and the only player in the New York-New England area. He will be the first player from Northwest Catholic to take part in that annual event, scheduled for Jan. 5.
"It's really exciting because these are the best players in the country," said Mike's coach, Mike Tyler, who will accompany his star player and attend a two-day U.S. Army Coaches Academy, compliments of the U.S. Army.
"It will be like a clinic where they have college coaches and a couple of pro coaches, too," Mr. Tyler said. "They'll have stuff on offensive line play and wide receiver and defense. Something like that is tremendous because you pick up a lot of fresh ideas."
Mike's father, former NFL defensive tackle Mike Golic Sr., said, "I like the fact that for each student they invite, they invite the coach. A big reason the kid's going is because of the coach. I think it's a cool thing to honor the people who helped the kid get there."
Mike Senior also "helped the kid get there." He coached him since grade school. He, too, was the first to commit to Notre Dame for his 1981 freshman class. He went on to an NFL career that spanned 1985-94, playing for the Houston Oilers, Philadephia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. He is now co-host, with Mike Greenberg, of ESPN's radio and television sports commentary show, "Mike and Mike in the Morning."
"He was the one who started me, getting me interested in Notre Dame," Mike Junior said, glancing over at his father.
But for all his coaching, Mike Senior never considered that his son would play center. "I put him at guard, tackle, everything except center," he said.
But Mr. Tyler needed a center, and when he was looking at incoming freshmen four years ago he asked, "Can you snap the ball?"
"I've always taught my kids that if a coach asks you if you can do something, say yes, then go see if you can do it," Mike Senior said.
It turned out he was a natural, Mr. Tyler said. "We knew he was athletic. The most important position on the line is the center. I knew he'd done well in school, and you've got to be smart, so he got snapping right off the bat. And we thought, "Wow, we have this kid for four years."
Mike Junior has continued to do well in school. He maintains a 4.0 grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society. He also does volunteer work with Foodshare.
"For my sophomore service project I worked through Foodshare, which is a branch of America's Second Harvest," he said. "It helps distribute food out to underprivileged families through various homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the Greater Hartford area."
The sophomore project is required, but continuing it is not. Through the National Honor Society, he continues to work with Foodshare.
Can the son exceed his father's football career? Though their positions on the field are different, the father seems to think the son is better.
"He lives on technique and fundamentals. It's a result of coaching and a result of his ability to learn it and to apply it," said the former player, a 10th-round draft pick in 1985 who had 11.5 career sacks and three interceptions. "I never made AFC or NFC championship games or the Super Bowl. The last time I checked, my rookie football card was worth a dime. It's up from a nickel. And that's the autographed one."
(It sounded like an exaggeration, but an online sports card forum confirmed this. A check of eBay in November showed a set of two 1992 Topps cards with an asking price of 99 cents. There were no bidders.)
The former player seems to take this in stride. "I had good years. I enjoyed myself. But to play longer you have to have teams that want you," he said with a chuckle.
The offensive line, where Mike Junior plays, is not usually in the spotlight. He is not eligible to receive passes and rarely gets to carry the ball. As his father said, "In the Super Bowl, when they're talking to the MVPs, rarely is there a lineman. It just doesn't happen."
But his son seems to be comfortable with this. "Basically, you shine by making sure the running backs and quarterback shine, keeping guys off them and obviously just making the blocks that you have to make all the time. Id say the only real glory comes with pancaking, putting a guy on his back."
"The center has to be the smartest one out there, because the center makes all the line calls," his father chimed in. "You know you live a life of anonymity and knowing that youre not going to get the adulation from the fans."
"Honestly," the younger Golic said, "all the attention Im getting now will probably be all the attention I get in the coming years."
The Golics, members of St. Ann Parish in Avon, believe a Catholic education is important. "I went to a Catholic grade school, Catholic high school," said Mike Senior. "My wife, Chris, went to a Catholic grade school, Catholic high school. I went to Notre Dame, she went to St. Mary's [Notre Dame's sister college], which is right there."
He is pleased that his son chose Notre Dame also, but not because it is his alma mater. "Blood is thicker than my alumni newsletter," he said.
"I was raised a Notre Dame fan, but after a while it just became my thing," Mike Junior said. "I just took pride in rooting for the Irish."
When the offer came in February, along with a scholarship, he didn't have to think about it. "We were in Pisa, walking around by the Leaning Tower," he recalled. "I committed right there on the spot," he said, and nearly missed the tour bus because all his classmates and teachers were high-fiving him.
How does his coach feel that this is his last year on the team?
"Could we clone him?" Mr. Tyler said.
It may not be necessary. Younger brother Jake will continue to play tight end next year and also has a shot at Army All-American in the future. Their sister, Sydney, is also an athlete, a swimmer ranked 20th in the country in the 11-12 age group for the backstroke.
"It should be noted that my wife is the backbone," said Mr. Golic Senior. "She is the teacher at home. She really guides these guys."
"The whole house would crumble if she wasn't there," his son agreed.
Mike Junior helped the Northwest Catholic Indians to become co-champions of the Nutmeg Conference this season, finishing with an 8-2 record.
He looks forward to next near helping Notre Dame and is working out to stay in shape for the All-American game. When it is televised live on NBC from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on Jan. 5, it's doubtful many Northwest Catholic students will be watching anything else.
WEST HARTFORD – Mike Golic Jr. was worried. He thought he might have to walk out on the Pope.
