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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.

