Cody Tucker | Lansing State Journal

Cody Tucker, Lansing State Journal

Cody Tucker

EAST LANSING — Mike Sterner had never been on a Greyhound bus before. He had heard the horror stories, but there was no way he was going to miss this game.

As snow flurries fell from the East Lansing sky and temperatures dipped into the high teens, he was already daydreaming about the California sunshine and possible glory that awaited him in three days. The foul smells, exhaust, interesting characters and long stretches of nothingness on the American landscape would be worth it, he kept telling himself.

It had been a last-second decision. He was broke. He had just enough to pay for a ticket to the game and the $400 round-trip on the bus. It was just after Christmas. He'd hoarded as many gift certificates as he could to fast food joints he knew he'd see along the way. He didn’t even have a hotel room. He thought he would just figure out the small details once he got there.

{{props.notification}} {{props.tag}} {{props.expression}} {{props.linkSubscribe.text}} {{#modules.acquisition.inline}}{{/modules.acquisition.inline}} ... Our reporting. Your stories. Get unlimited digital access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

At 10 a.m. that freezing December morning, along with two of his friends, Sterner hopped on the coach and headed west.

“We couldn’t afford it, but it was the 100th Rose Bowl,” he said with a grin. “I kept telling my friends, ‘We are going to regret this forever if we don’t go. Especially if we win.’”

Mainstay on the JumboTron

Courtesy photo

You have probably seen Sterner before. He's better known as “Sparty Mike” and can typically be found in the front rows of the Breslin Center in the winter, Spartan Stadium in the fall.

He’s not hard to spot.

Sterner wears a green Michigan State football helmet. Chin strap and all. He has a personalized home jersey, his moniker on the nameplate. Sometimes he brings a large flag. Not always, though. He needs his hands free for the dozens of photo requests he gets from fellow fans.

Sterner’s trademark move is to flex with both arms, the way the real team mascot does it. The 23-year-old from Hazel Park has been a mainstay on the arena’s JumboTron since he came to school here in 2012. He always has a beaming smile and an intensity in his eyes. It’s his game face.

On Tuesday at his off-campus apartment, Sterner had that same look. When he gave the grand tour of his quaint, cozy living quarters, he was quick to point out the Spartans memorabilia on the walls. There is a story behind each piece, sometimes an extended one.

There are flags on his living room walls. A poster of the Jalen Watts-Jackson play. In bold, it says: “Rangers Mission: 4:10, Block 11.” MSU football jerseys surround his bed. He has a ticket stub or a wristband from every game he has attended. A half-dozen mini helmets rest on a shelf along with a seat back from the old Pontiac Silverdome. Pennants, posters and a large autographed Barry Sanders image are tacked to the wall.

Sterner is also a Detroit Lions fanatic. He has season tickets. But, even if he is as obsessed with the Lions as he says he is, his home décor would suggest his love for MSU runs at a much deeper level.

“I love unique stuff,” he says, pointing out an assortment of jersey patches, autographed footballs and a pair of MSU replica traveling trophies, a mini version of the Old Brass Spittoon and the Paul Bunyan Trophy. If the Spartans beat Indiana and rival Michigan on the gridiron, respectively, the real trophies sit in cases inside the football building.

Sterner’s Bunyan Trophy is signed by head coach Mark Dantonio.

Courtesy photo

It’s one of his prized possessions for several reasons.

One being that he comes from a large family filled with Michigan fans.

“They are a special breed of people,” he laughed, referring to most U-M supporters.

Mike’s father, Tim Sterner, is one of those “special” Wolverines’ fans. He passed it down to five of his six children. He isn’t sure why Mike is a Spartans’ fan. His best guess is because he had to be the opposite of his older brother, Steven. He also knows Mike embraces the underdog role.

Mike concurs.

Tim Sterner may not care for the teams in East Lansing, but his phone definitely rings off the hook when they are on national television. Like clockwork, a friend or relative will spot his son in the crowd.

He thinks Mike is crazy in so many ways. But, he is also admittedly a little jealous.

“The kid has got to live a heck of a life with all of the stuff he’s gotten to do in college,” Tim Sterner said. “I’m hoping one day to live the life of my kids. He’s into it and gone to an awful lot of stuff.”

MORE FROM CODY TUCKER:

Not just a ‘mascot’

Sterner scoffs at the idea that he is in the same league with fellow MSU superfan Johnny Spirit, a man who paints his entire body green and white and rides a bicycle around the parking lot of Spartan Stadium during pregame festivities.

“Johnny Spirit, I am not,” he said. “We are totally different people, but we are both passionate.”

First off, Sterner, says, he isn’t wasting time in the parking lot. He is in the student-section line. It’s a first-come, first-serve operation. He’s typically near the front. When Oregon visited East Lansing for a much-anticipated meeting in 2015, Sterner camped outside the stadium for more than two days. He “needed” to be in the front row.

He’s done the same for home games against the hated Wolverines.

Ryan McCumber, a close friend of Sterner’s and a fellow Greyhound passenger that December day, laughs when he thinks about the lengths “Sparty Mike” goes to when it comes to games. McCumber likes to drink beer and socialize. There’s no way he is waiting in a line like that. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate his friend’s passion.

“He’s crazy,” McCumber smiled, adding that Johnny Spirit is indeed not in Sterner’s hemisphere when it comes to fandom. “He has a ton of dedication. He’s a good dude.”

McCumber said he hears the snickers and whispers about Sterner. Even some of his other friends think he is a goofball.

“People make fun of him about wearing the helmet,” he said. “A lot of people talk smack. They just don’t know him.

“He’s not just a ‘mascot.’”

Sterner knows some people perceive him as weird, that they think he lives and dies with the Spartans and goes to ridiculous lengths to show his dedication.

To a degree, that is all true.

But that doesn’t scratch the surface of the real man inside that helmet.

Sterner graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in human biology in spring 2016. He is already a year into medical school at MSU, harboring dreams of becoming a family practitioner.

Dumb, he is not.

Courtesy photo

He was the valedictorian and class president of his metro Detroit high school. Good grades were a must for Sterner, even drawing the ire of his five siblings at times, his father laughed.

“Mike’s always been really focused, and he’s a smart kid,” Tim Sterner said. “Mike outworked people. He’ll study for 12 hours straight. He has worked for everything he’s got. He’s driven.”

After the chatter dies down about game experiences and players he has met, Sterner’s intelligence comes to the surface. He is a deep thinker. His positivity is infectious, almost obnoxious at times. He doesn’t cuss or drink alcohol. If he did, he snickered, he’d really be broke.

He mentions the word "perspective" no fewer than 20 times in a matter of a couple of hours. It’s his unofficial life motto.

When you have endured what he has, it’s easy to see why.

MORE MSU FOOTBALL:

'In honor of my mom'

Sterner pointed to a day that changed his life and mindset forever — Sept. 11, 2010.

That day, as a junior in high school, Sterner came home to an ambulance at his front door. That was nothing new. His mother, Kim Sterner, had been battling appendix cancer for a number of years.

A self-proclaimed “momma’s boy,” Sterner said he lay on the couch opposite his mother in the living room every night. He said he was loyal like a dog. He would help her with her medication and ask a lot of questions. He loved her. He said he was the first of the children to say “mom” before “dad.”

She was a kindergarten teacher and a proponent of higher education. She brightened every room she walked in, Sterner said. She had a contagious laugh, just like him. She was a figure of strength.

Unfortunately, EMT workers coming out his front door became a common occurrence.

“I figured it was just a setback,” he said.

But it wasn't.

Kim Sterner succumbed to her rare, deadly disease that day. She was 41.

“I just remember my dad saying, ‘She is not going to make it this time,’” an emotional Sterner said, rubbing his freshly buzzed head. “We were in the room and said our goodbyes. I was holding my mom’s hand, and I told her that I was going to be valedictorian. They say that people who are in a coma can sometimes hear you. I swear, she squeezed my hand.

“After that, I was driven to do things in honor of my mom.”

MSU serves as a beautiful distraction

The void left in Sterner’s life has yet to be filled. Though he tries.

Losing himself in MSU sports served as a beautiful distraction. His studies help, too.

“I’ve changed in so many ways,” Sterner said. “I think it’s a gift to keep these tough moments in perspective, though.”

McCumber’s beloved grandfather passed away last week. It has been a struggle for him, but when it came to dealing with the pain of loss, he knew he could lean on Sterner.

“He’s helped me through some difficult stuff,” he said. “He cares about people.”

Sterner believes his mother is in a much better place right now. His Christian faith affords him that comfort. Would he like to have her back? Of course, but that would be selfish. Plus, he says, he will see her again one day.

It doesn’t matter how many Final Fours, Cotton Bowls or Big Ten road games he attends, still, he admits, he craves his mother's love.

Yet, he has never lost his smile.

Courtesy photo

Sterner said this process has brought him closer to his father, Tim. Originally, when he had tough issues in his personal life to discuss, his mother was at the other end of the line. Now, he relies on his dad. He finds comfort in his tone and understanding.

“My mom knew my dad could take care of all of us,” he said. “That’s a credit to him.”

Tim Sterner said his children have made that responsibility an easy one. Especially with Mike.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” Tim Sterner said of his second-oldest son. “Every one of my kids is incredible, but Mike couldn’t let me down if he tried.”

'Wouldn't change a thing'

Sterner said he got plenty of sleep on that 55-hour bus ride to Pasadena.

For McCumber and their other friend, Ryan Waisanen, it was a different story.

Stops were frequent. The fields and rolling hills went on forever. A bus driver in St. Louis didn’t show up on time. Sterner and his buddies wandered aimlessly through the empty city at 3 a.m., checking out the Arch and Busch Stadium.

“We saw the craziness of America,” Sterner said, adding that a fellow passenger got kicked off the bus in the middle of New Mexico for drinking a 40-ounce beer.

In Amarillo, Texas, (they pronounce it “Amareeo”) McCumber lost his bus ticket. Forty-five minutes of panic ensued, but he was eventually allowed back on. They stopped in Chicago, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque and Phoenix, among what seemed like hundreds of other places, before eventually landing in Los Angeles.

“I would never do that again,” McCumber smiled. “But, it was worth it.”

The trio crashed in friend’s hotel rooms, walked everywhere, survived on junk food, used too many filthy public restrooms to mention and didn’t shower for two-plus days.

But in the end, the final score was all that mattered — MSU 24, Stanford 20.

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Sterner said. “Everything worked out perfectly.”