By Marco Salas, Sun Devil Class fo 2023
(Note: Marco Salas is a redshirt junior for the Sun Devil football team. A 2018 Dobson High School graduate in Mesa, AZ, he is an aspiring journalist and is enrolled in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications and Barrett, The Honors College.)
To run an athletic program takes help from alumni.
Mike Friend, a Sun Devil for life, is one of those who has helped elevate ASU's athletic facilities. Recently, Friend helped upgrade the Bill Kajikawa practice fields where the football team practices.
Friend said the plan for upgrading the fields started as a conversation with Tim Cassidy, the former Senior Associate Athletic Director for football, at a practice.
"I was talking to Tim Cassidy at a practice, and I was asking him how things were going, and he said, 'Coach Edwards wanted to put some new signs around the field, and he said he wanted to resod the field.' I said that sounds good, let's talk about it and maybe I can help in some way."
After a couple of months of planning, the fields were resodded and new signs were put up around the field. On top of helping with the practice fields, Friend has also helped the football program with upgrading helmets and installing a large TV monitor in the weight room.
"I have seen some unique opportunities that have come up that were hybrid, that didn't fit the profile of other donors and what they wanted to do, but in that case was affordable to me and we did it, '' said Friend who stepped up to help the program.
A graduate of ASU, Friend has been around Tempe since the 1970s. Before enrolling at ASU, Friend wanted to move back home to Michigan and go to school there.
"I don't have any deep roots in Arizona, I came from Michigan and yearned to go back and did go back. I didn't enroll at ASU for my first semester because I went back to Michigan and thought I could live with my grandmother and maybe go to one of those schools back there since I grew up there."
After committing to come back to Arizona for school, Friend walked on to campus and enrolled a couple of days before the spring semester started.
"In the spring I came back and pretty much made the commitment that I wanted to get an education. Because I was a high school graduate here, back then if you were in the top ten percent in your class you automatically get enrolled at ASU. I basically walked on campus and enrolled three days before school started and got my classes."
After graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Friend went on to run two successful plastic manufacturing businesses and started a family with his wife Nancy. They had two kids, Nick, and Lindsey, who also attended ASU. Friend remembered taking his kids to all sorts of ASU events, from football games to school events.
"They both were going to games early on and different activities and then they both went there and got their degrees from there."
Once Friends' kids left the nest and started their own life, he did what any empty nester would do and moved to a condo on Mill Avenue.
"For seven years, from 2010 to 2017 we actually lived on Mill Avenue. In 2010 we were living in south Tempe, Nick and Lindsey were gone, and the house seemed too big for us, and we thought we wanted to travel some more. So, we bought a condominium right on Sixth Street and Mill and we lived right there for seven years. It was kinda cool because I could walk to football games and walk on campus. We always said we had 50,000 new neighbors every year."
With roots rooted in Tempe, Friends has everything he could ask for. With what he has in life, Friend looked to help others at ASU because he was grateful for the blessings he had and wanted to give back.
He said, "I've been pretty well blessed with a lot of things that happened for me in my life and you see different needs come up and you want to fill the needs and help where you can."
Overall, Friend doesn't consider himself a big donor, instead, he sees himself in a position to help.
"Sometimes in life, you find yourself in a good position and you've been blessed with resources, and you feel that you need to be responsible with that, it's better to give than to receive."
Friend loves attending football and basketball games and is looking forward to becoming a season ticket holder for hockey once their new arena is complete.
(Note: Marco Salas is a redshirt junior for the Sun Devil football team. A 2018 Dobson High School graduate in Mesa, AZ, he is an aspiring journalist and is enrolled in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications and Barrett, The Honors College.)
To run an athletic program takes help from alumni.
Mike Friend, a Sun Devil for life, is one of those who has helped elevate ASU's athletic facilities. Recently, Friend helped upgrade the Bill Kajikawa practice fields where the football team practices.
Friend said the plan for upgrading the fields started as a conversation with Tim Cassidy, the former Senior Associate Athletic Director for football, at a practice.
"I was talking to Tim Cassidy at a practice, and I was asking him how things were going, and he said, 'Coach Edwards wanted to put some new signs around the field, and he said he wanted to resod the field.' I said that sounds good, let's talk about it and maybe I can help in some way."
After a couple of months of planning, the fields were resodded and new signs were put up around the field. On top of helping with the practice fields, Friend has also helped the football program with upgrading helmets and installing a large TV monitor in the weight room.
"I have seen some unique opportunities that have come up that were hybrid, that didn't fit the profile of other donors and what they wanted to do, but in that case was affordable to me and we did it, '' said Friend who stepped up to help the program.
A graduate of ASU, Friend has been around Tempe since the 1970s. Before enrolling at ASU, Friend wanted to move back home to Michigan and go to school there.
"I don't have any deep roots in Arizona, I came from Michigan and yearned to go back and did go back. I didn't enroll at ASU for my first semester because I went back to Michigan and thought I could live with my grandmother and maybe go to one of those schools back there since I grew up there."
After committing to come back to Arizona for school, Friend walked on to campus and enrolled a couple of days before the spring semester started.
"In the spring I came back and pretty much made the commitment that I wanted to get an education. Because I was a high school graduate here, back then if you were in the top ten percent in your class you automatically get enrolled at ASU. I basically walked on campus and enrolled three days before school started and got my classes."
After graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Friend went on to run two successful plastic manufacturing businesses and started a family with his wife Nancy. They had two kids, Nick, and Lindsey, who also attended ASU. Friend remembered taking his kids to all sorts of ASU events, from football games to school events.
"They both were going to games early on and different activities and then they both went there and got their degrees from there."
Once Friends' kids left the nest and started their own life, he did what any empty nester would do and moved to a condo on Mill Avenue.
"For seven years, from 2010 to 2017 we actually lived on Mill Avenue. In 2010 we were living in south Tempe, Nick and Lindsey were gone, and the house seemed too big for us, and we thought we wanted to travel some more. So, we bought a condominium right on Sixth Street and Mill and we lived right there for seven years. It was kinda cool because I could walk to football games and walk on campus. We always said we had 50,000 new neighbors every year."
With roots rooted in Tempe, Friends has everything he could ask for. With what he has in life, Friend looked to help others at ASU because he was grateful for the blessings he had and wanted to give back.
He said, "I've been pretty well blessed with a lot of things that happened for me in my life and you see different needs come up and you want to fill the needs and help where you can."
Overall, Friend doesn't consider himself a big donor, instead, he sees himself in a position to help.
"Sometimes in life, you find yourself in a good position and you've been blessed with resources, and you feel that you need to be responsible with that, it's better to give than to receive."
Friend loves attending football and basketball games and is looking forward to becoming a season ticket holder for hockey once their new arena is complete.