sports HIGHlights brought to you in partnership with NMLS#2289 42 | DECEMBER 16 • 2021 Jackie Kallen is the First Lady of Boxing, the most successful female manager in boxing history. She’s also a sought-after and pro- lific public speaker. So much so that Bruce Merrin’s Celebrity Speakers Bureau and Kallen reached an agreement this month to have the speakers bureau represent the 75-year-old West Bloomfield resi- dent. “They’re top of the line, first-class, and they hand-pick their speakers,” Kallen said about the Las Vegas- based speakers bureau. “I’m thrilled to work with them.” Founded in 1973, the speakers bureau provides corporate meeting and event planners worldwide with an elite lineup of speakers that through the years has included Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali and every U.S. president starting with Ronald Reagan. Kallen said her hour-long speech- es are always off the cuff. She never uses notes. “Many people are afraid of public speaking. I love it,” she said. “I’m like a racehorse at the gate at the start of my speeches, whether I’m speak- ing in front of 100 or 3,000 people.” Kallen tailors her speeches to the crowd. She can tell stories about the celebrities she interviewed during a 25-year career as a journalist with the Oakland Press, folks like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, KISS, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, or meeting Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. Or she can give a motivational speech that focuses on self-confi- dence, fearlessness, taking the path less traveled and making the most of every day. Four heart stents, glaucoma and melanoma haven’t slowed her down. The last speech Kallen set up on her own before joining the speakers bureau was for an all-Jewish crowd of about 450 (many from Michigan) on Dec. 7 at the Polo Club resi- dential community in Boca Raton, Florida. quick hits BY STEVE STEIN N ick Chudler thought his football career was over. He was recovering well after undergoing specialized spinal fusion back surgery May 3 at a hospital in New Jersey, one of only a few hospitals in the country where the surgery is done, “but I didn’t think I’ d be cleared to play football, ” he said. Not after doctors in New Jersey went in through his right side and installed tethers and eight screws in his spine. Then Chudler went to Beaumont Hospital in Farmington Hills during Thanksgiving week for a six-month post-surgery checkup. “I was curious, so I asked if I could play football again, ” he said. The answer from the Beaumont medical professionals surprised him. Yes, he could play football again. After some soul-searching and talks with his family, the 21-year-old Michigan State University senior from Novi entered the NCAA ’s transfer portal to see if he could find a landing spot as a graduate transfer student with one year of eligibility. Filing the paperwork added his name to the list of MSU football players entering the portal that was reported in newspapers statewide in early December, even though Chudler wasn’t on the Spartans’ roster in 2020 or 2021. “That was a surprise to see my name in those stories, ” he said. Chudler came to MSU as a preferred walk-on in 2018, fulfilling a lifelong dream. The long-snapper was on the Spartans’ roster in 2018 and 2019, but he didn’t get into any games. He left the team after the 2019 season because of his bad back and the departure of the coaches who knew him, and he didn’t play in 2020 or 2021. Chudler has one semester of classes remaining at MSU, with plans to graduate in May with a degree in health communi- cations. If he transfers, he said, he’ d pursue a master’s degree at his new school, and most likely be strictly a long-snapper for his new football team. “If a good opportunity comes along, with a chance to play football while getting some scholarship money, I will 100% consider it, ” he said. “I’m not picky. ” Chudler said while he’s still sore from his surgery, he’s been working out pain-free for about a month and half and feeling his strength returning. The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder has practiced long-snapping since his surgery and he recently participated in a wrestling team practice at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, his for- mer high school. He was a football and wrestling standout at OLSM. “If I can wrestle, I can play football, ” he said. Please send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo. com. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Spinal fusion surgery revives former MSU long- snapper Nick Chudler’s football career He’s back! STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER Nick Chudler hopes to play football again, but it won’t be at Michigan State. Jackie Kallen Is Never Speechless SUSAN HAMON Jackie Kallen spoke Dec. 7 at the Polo Club residential community in Boca Raton, Florida.