The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, December 12, 2011- 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, December12, 2D11 - 5A
From Page 1A
The following story is Milano's account
of what happened in mid-October of his
senior year, when he found himself in an
altercation with Steven Kampfer, then
a junior defenseman on the Michigan
hockey team who now plays for the Bos-
ton Bruins.
The Kampfer family declined to com-
ment for this article. Though his voice is
not included in this story, much of it is,
indeed, backed by witness testimonials on
both sides of the case.
Every year in October, Milano and his
housemates in Ann Arbor would throw
an annual Halloween-themed party. His
senior year would be no different. It didn't
matter that the football team had lost to
Toledo and dropped to a humiliating 2-4
record earlier that day - tradition was
tradition.
There were costumes, decorations and
organized competitions that culminated
in a tricycle race. And of course, there was
booze. Lots of booze.
Milano said he spent much of the night
with Tatjana Thuener-Rego, a former
Michigan gymnast. Though he admitted
their interactions were often flirtatious,
their relationship was purely platonic.
"We had a class together: Evolution
of Communism in China, 8:30 in the
morning," Milano said. "We sat next
to each other, we studied together, we
were spending a lot of time together.
We watched the McCain-Obama debate
together."
Late in the night, after the party had
mostly fizzled out, Milano, Theuner-Rego
and others headed to the ever-popular
Rick's American Cafe to keep the night
alive. Milano recalled how they drank
and danced away the disappointment that
follows any Michigan loss on the gridiron,
and they stayed until last call.
When the lights came on, the group
went up the stairs and loitered on Church
Street, wondering where to head next.
That's when Kampfer arrived with his
friend Mike Anderson.
Kampfer and Theuner-Rego had had
an on-again-off-again relationship, and
Milano suggested Kampfer was upset that
Thuener-Rego didn't return his phone
calls that evening.
Thuener-Rego's housemates, then-LSA
seniors Melissa Karner and Katie Smith,
said in witness reports that Thuener-Rego
was purposefully flirting with Milano in
frontofKampfer outside ofthebartomake
Kampfer jealous. They also mentioned that
this was not uncommon for her.
Several interview requests to Theuner-
Rego were not returned.
Reports say Kampfer approached
Thuener-Rego and pulled her aside to have
a discussion across the street from Rick's.
Most of Milano's friends - including
Thuener-Rego's housemates - walked
home during the exchange. Milano, his
brother Chris and his friend Brandon
Hahn were left, and they decided to wait
for Thuener-Rego before going home.
Anderson also waited with them.
Moments later, the group looked back
across the street. According to later
testimonies - including Anderson's -
Kampfer had Thuener-Rego's shoulders
pinned up against the vinyl fencing on the
left side of 624 Church St., just I00 feet
north of the intersection of Church and
Willard Streets. In the next instant, wit-
ness reports said she was on the ground,
though none could confirm how she
ended up there.
"We saw Steve being really aggressive
toward Tatjana," Chris said in an inter-
view last month. "From where I saw, she
was on the ground crying, obviously not
comfortable with what was going on. He
was kind of standing over her."
Milano added that Kampfer "had her
by both wrists, kind ofyanking her off the
ground." Milano decided he must inter-
vene, despite warnings from Anderson to
not get involved.
As he walked across the street to con-
front Kampfer, who had also been drinking
heavily that night (medical records state
he had a blood-alcohol content of about
.15 at 3:55 a.m.), Thuener-Rego reportedly
escaped and fled through a parking lot
behind the house. All reports confirm that
she did not witness the ensuing events.
Though none of the witness accounts
match up on exactly how the exchange
followed, reports were clear that Milano
approached Kampfer out of concern for
Thuener-Rego, and language escalated
between the two until expletives were
exchanged.
After about a minute, it didn't appear
that a physical altercation was developing,
and all five decided to walk home, head-
ing south on Church Street. Reports con-
firm that Kampfer and Anderson walked
in front, while the Milano brothers and
Hahn were behind them. Their houses
were in the same general direction.
They didn't get too far. Just a couple
hundred feet south from Kampfer's origi-
nal confrontation with Thuener-Rego,
along the east wall of East Quad Resi-
dence Hall, the jawing between Milano
and Kampfer resumed.
Milano said he doesn't remember what
the trigger was, but Kampfer was fed up
and turned around to confront Milano
face-to-face, calling him a "cocksucker"
as he turned. Anderson later confirmed
that as well.
Thegapbetweenthe twoclosed quickly.
Anderson's testimony, as well as inde-
pendent witness reports of Ann Arbor
residents Nick Nedick and Zach Plachety,
concur that Kampfer and Milano were
facing each other before making physi-
cal contact. It did not appear that Milano
had instigated a physical confrontation by
attackingKampfer from behind.
Milano, his brother and Hahn claimed
they saw Kampfer cock his arm to take a
swing. But he never landed it, and within
seconds, Kampfer laid on the ground con-
cussed.
"He lunged at me," Milano said last
month. "For me, I just lowered my level
and wentcright through his hips. A double-
leg takedown, or a football tackle, if you
don't know wrestling."
All reports said Milano stood up and
immediately leftthe scene with hisabroth-
er and Hahn, unaware of the extent of
Kampfer's injuries. There was no further
fighting.
Kampfer, who was hospitalized with
a concussion and occipital skull fracture
from hitting the back of his head on the
sidewalk, faced a daunting road to recov-
ery. And Milano, who had spent countless
hours training to walk onto the Michigan
football team, would soon see his hopes
and dreams crushed.
The thing about Michigan is when you
get there, the level of accomplishment and
excellence you must have achieved in high
school becomes mundane, the stardom
experienced in your youth becomes ordi-
nary and you yourself begin to view your
life as ordinary when you sink into a crowd
of extraordinary people. ... There are few
atmospheres that I have found that elicit
this type ofpersonal desire to achieve.
Milano grew up near an erosion gully
in Cleveland that he and his friends fit-
tingly dubbed "the Devil's ass crack."
In preparation for football and wres-
tling seasons in high school, they often
drove to the gully, and Milano would run
sprints up the hill. It was frighteningly
steep, and sometimes he would lose his
footing as mud slid down the gully from
under his cleats.
He loved training in the elements, out-
side gym walls.
"We were creative," Milano remem-
bered. "We had this one idea where I was
going to run through the woods, and it
was like I had to get from point A to point
B. And my buddies were going to do what-
ever they could to stop me. They could
tackle me, beat me up, punch me. One
dude wanted to bringpaintball guns."
Milano's motivation was an eerily
Rudy-esque determination to be the best
in the midst of adversity.;
"When we were younger,'Chris and I
would always play sports together, and
Mike would tag along," said Nick, the
oldest Milano brother, now a neurosurgi-
cal resident at the Cleveland Clinic. "We
would sort of just beat him up a little bit
- I think he used that."
Mike would never grow to the height of
his brothers or father, but he was reward-
ed for his hard work with a scholarship
to wrestle for coach Joe McFarland at
Michigan. He was the first of the Milano
brothers to receive a Division-I athletic
scholarship.
Early in his sophomore season at Mich-
igan, Milano met with Mary Passink, who
worked in the offices of Schembechler
Hall, to discuss the remote possibility of
walking onto the football team.
A sluggish Lloyd Carr walked past her
desk, and Passink introduced the two,
explaining that Milano intended to tryout.
"Hope it works out for you," Carr said.
And he returned to business as usual.
Milano didn't tell his family about the
meeting. He was afraid they wouldn't
approve - that they'd remind him he's
on a wrestling scholarship, and he should
stay focused. He was afraid they would
tell him he couldn't do it, that this was
Michigan football, not just any program
he wastalking about.
Only his younger sister knew what he
was up to. The rest of the family didn't
learn of it until he was invited back to
springcamp weeks later.
"In high school I was his number one
fan - literally wore his jersey to every
game," said Mike's sister Jessica. "I
remember he texted me and told me, and
he was like, 'You can't tell anyone. You
can't tell mom and dad. I haven't told
Chris or Nick.' I thought it was so cool."
By day, Milano trained for wrestling.
By night, he drove over to Crisler Arena,
where he and a friend snuck in after hours
to run sprints up and down the bleach-
ers. They even figured out how to use the
PA system and blast their workout music
through the arena.
In mid-January 2007, Brad Labadie,
then-director of football operations, told
Milano the coaching staff was impressed
with his high school highlight tapes and
wanted to see more.
Labadie laid out the map for walking
onto the Michigan football team.
First, he had to make it past the
strength coach, and then the speed coach.
If he succeeded, he would try out during
spring practices. If he made the grade
there, he'd get the opportunity to play in
the springscrimmage on March14.
And if he impressed coaches in the
scrimmage, then Carr might grant him
the opportunity to play on the scout team
come fall practice.
Milano passed every stage with flying
colors, and Carr invited him back for fall
practices, where he had his own locker
in the varsity locker room, his own cleats
(at first, the equipment room didn't have
a pair small enough for his 8.5 shoe size)
and his own jersey - No. 38.
"He was a hardworking kid," Mike
Hart remembered. "He was a good kid to
be around, and we all liked Mike. He used
to make some big plays in practice, some
big runs, and we'd all get excited for him."
The day after the last practice of fall
camp, Labadie called Milano into his
office for an impromptu meeting. The
coaching staff decided to give him schol-
arship No.85, which was the last remain-
ing football scholarship for that season. It
was an honor Milano had neither expect-
ed nor dreamed of.
After profusely thanking Labadie and
walking down the hall to thank Carr
as well, Milano immediately called his
father.
"When Coach Carr ultimately gave him
a scholarship, Ie-mailed my friends," said
Mike's father, Jay. " I said, 'The little turd
has once again bent the world to his will.
The University of Michigan just gave a
5-foot-6 running back a full ride!"'
The morning of Sept. 1, 2007, Milano
suited up, winged helmet and all, and pre-
pared to run out of the Big House tunnel
in front of 109,000 fans for the first time.
His family and friends from Rocky River
made the trip to watch the town's favor-
ite son make his college football debut
against Appalachian State.
Standing in the tunnel, former Michi-
gan tight end Mike Massey turned to
Milano and asked, "You ready forthis?"
Milano had been ready for it his whole
life. But he suddenly felt nervous.
"My biggest fear is that I wouldn't be
able to hit the banner," Milano laughs. "I
mean, maybe that banner is built for peo-
ple who are 6-foot-3."
On a national scale I was made out to
be a mindless thug, someone just looking
for a fight. I was abandoned by an athletic
department that I was very loyal to. I was
lied to by some ofthe men whomIrespected
the most, and I was threatened with expul-
sion from school. Friends and acquain-
tances were suspicious of me, wondering
constantly ifIwas lying to them.... Worst of
all, my family wasput through hellfor over
a year.
On the Monday morning following the
incident between Milano and Kampfer,
the snowball began to roll.
Without full knowledge of the situa-
tion, and before the Athletic Department
could confer about the details, Michigan
hockey coach Red Berenson began com-
mentingto the media.
"I can'ttell you that (Kampfer) did any-
thing bad," Berenson said. "He just was a
victim."
At the time, one anonymous eyewit-
ness account was willing to speak to the
Daily on record anonymously, detailing
the scene of the previous Saturday night.
Now identified as Neil Patel, then a senior
in the College of Engineering, he claimed
he saw someone attack Kampfer from
behind, pick him up and slam him onto
the sidewalk.
Nobody else would speak on the record,
though others confirmed that Mike Mila-
no was the student who tackled Kamp-
fer. Patel's story became the prevailing
account of the incident.
Milano said last month that the Daily
had asked him to comment beforecthe story
ran, but he wanted to hold off until he dis-
cussed the matter with his coachingstaff.
That was an opportunity Milano wish-
es he could have back.
Before he even had a chance to discuss
the situation with his coaches, Milano
was portrayed as a villain in the media,
and venerable 25th-year coach Red
Berenson was the only voice the Athletic
Department directly or indirectly offered.
Today, it appears that Patel's account
doesn't match other witness reports. He
claimed that the "attacker was accom-
panied by two other men with athletic
builds and blonde hair."
Chris Milano is bald. Brandon Hahn is
African-American, with very short, black
hair.
Independent reports from Nedick and
Plachety that surfaced later also stated
that the attack was a face-to-face encoun-
ter. Milano said Patel was the only one
who portrayed his actions as an attack on
Kampfer from behind.
It didn't matter. Early that week, The
Detroit News and Ann Arbor News picked
up the story. The situation was getting
ugly for first-year football coach Rich
Rodriguez, who was already a media tar-
get upon suffering four losses in just six
games.
It didn't help that Kampfer had been
seriously injured either. In a paper he
wrote for a class and revealed earlier this
year by University Prof. and author John
Bacon, Kampfer detailed the extent of his
recovery process following the incident. It
disclosed how difficult it was for him to eat,
shower or carry out a typical daily routine
while living life in a head and neck brace.
Many believed that his future in hock-
ey was finished.
Still, in a meeting the Monday after the
incident, Milano explained himself to his
coaches, and he said Rodriguez informed
him and his father, Jay, that everything
COURTESY OF MIKE MILANO
Milano atop the Cho La passof the Himilayan mountains.
would be fine. He assured them that
Mike's senior season was not in jeopardy.
Milano said Rodriguez told him not to
come to practice that Wednesday because
the media would be present, and the
coaches didn't want the incident to be a
topic of discussion. After initial objection,
Milano complied and stayed home.
Reporters showed up to practice ask-
ing questions about Milano's absence, and
when Rodriguez declined to comment,
they assumed he'd been suspended indefi-
nitely.
"More bad news for Michigan," report-
ed ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg in a blog
post that Wednesday evening. "Football
player Mike Milano has been indefinitely
suspended after being investigated for
an alleged assault on a Wolverines hock-
ey player last weekend. ... Head coach
Rich Rodriguez cannot comment on the
alleged violation until the investigation is
completed."
It was just four days after the inci-
dent. On the heels of Kampfer's injury,
Berenson's comments, a single witness
testimony and a questionable decision
by Rodriguez, Milano had all the cards
stacked against him.
To the world, he was a monster.
Milano recalled how Rodriguez
approached him when he was warming
up for the team's 6 a.m. workout the next
morning. The coach told him that he had
to pack up and leave, and until he heard
better news from the investigation, Mila-
no could no longer be a member of the
football team.
"Why don't you ask the team if they
want me around or not?" Milano sug-
gested.
Rodriguez apologized and reiterated
that he had no choice. Milano said it was
the last time they would ever speak.
Several interview requests for this arti-
cle to Rodriguez - now the head coach at
Arizona - went unreturned.
I am ashamed to admit at that point I
even considered just folding and saying I
did everythingthey saidI did. Just so those
close to me would not continue to think I
was lying, andI could begin making it up to
them. That was my weakest moment.
Milano never thought he'd read his
name in the same sentence as "felony."
Yet there he sat, helplessly watching the
ESPN ticker at the bottom of the screen:
"Michigan running back Mike Milano,
charged with a felony - indefinitely sus-
pended from the Michigan football team."
Milano was charged with intent to
do great bodily harm less than murder,
as well as a misdemeanor of aggravated
assault. The prosecutor initially offered
a plea deal of six months in prison upon
admission of guilt.
Still, Milano stayed calm, maintain-
ing that he did the right thing getting
involved between Kampfer and Thuener-
Rego, and that he tackled Kampfer out of
self-defense. He claimed he never intend-
ed to injure Kampfer in the altercation.
"I ended up driving home (one) night
and telling my dad, 'I don't care what they
do to me,' " Milano said. " 'They can do
whatever they want to me. There's noth-
ing they could do to hurt me."'
At the time of the trial in a Washtenaw
County Circuit Court in October 2009,
Milano had a solid case. Nedick and Pla-
chety had countered Patel's initial story
as reported in the Daily. Kampfer's friend
Anderson also testified that the physical
confrontation was face-to-face, not an
attack from behind.
Anderson did not agree that Kampfer
wound up to punch Milano before being
tackled, but there was enough evidence
to suggest that either Milano or Kampfer
could have been injured in the exchange
- that it was essentially a fair fight and
Kampfer wasn't as innocent as everyone
had believed.
Thuener-Rego's housemates, Karner
and Smith, also testified in court on the
volatile relationship between Thuener-
Rego and Kampfer. They mentioned that
Kampfer often yelled at Thuener-Rego,
and on multiple occasions, his bouts were
turned on them as well.
And during the trial, the Athletic
Department produced new voices.
Michigan wrestling coach Joe McFar-
land and former football coach Lloyd
Carr testified in court on what they knew
of Mike Milano. Both made it clear that
they don't give scholarships to students of
questionable character, and they believed
in Milano's integrity.
Milano broke down and cried during
their testimonies.
"I think he felt a combination of grati-
fied and upset that he had to lean on two
men that meant a great deal to him," said
John Shea, Milano's attorney. "To come to
his aid, to come to his defense ... that was
important to Mike. And I think that he
was a little overwhelmed that they actu-
ally did it and did it as well as they did it"
During Milano's testimony later in the
trial, when asked why he was so emo-
tional, Milano said he was ashamed that
two great Michigan Men would always
remember him in the courtroom, rather
than on the field or the wrestlingmat.
Ultimately, he was acquitted ofthe felo-
ny charge and convicted of misdemeanor
bythejury. If any consolation was needed,
Circuit Court Judge David Swartz looked
at Milano after the decision was read and
told him that he would have acquitted him
of both charges.
"I think Mike was more gratified when
the judge, at sentencing, didn't even place
him on probation," Shea said. "The judge
also said, 'In five years when you're eligi-
ble for expungement, make sure you come
back to me and apply for it."'
After the trial, former Michigan Ath-
letic Director Bill Martin presented
Milano with the 'M' ring that's typically
awarded to graduating football players, a
privilege that Martin had said he would
grant if Milano was acquitted of felony.
But that was a private matter. The Ath-
letic Department never commented on
the situation publicly, and it still won't
today.
In an e-mail to the Daily last month,
Associate Athletic Director David Ablauf
wrote that the Athletic Department
wouldat comment on Milano's book,
"Michigan Men?" released in November,
and that the department was not willing
to "rehash the past."
There is a war we can fight and win, and
that is pain and suffering dealt not by the
hands of nature, but by the hands of men.
A war against injustice. That is what this
book is about, injustice.
After sitting down with Milano, it's
hard for me to believe the whole country
thinks this guy is a punk.
When the media reported that he was
acquitted, many accounts made it seem
as though he had gotten off easy. Most of
them never delved into the details of the
case, and enraged readers continued to
blast Milano on comment threads.
Since the trial, he has traveled to
South Africa to work with underprivi-
leged youth. He spent two months in
Nepal teaching English at an orphanage.
And he's now a volunteer with Teach for
America, based in New Orleans. Bill Mar-
tin wrote his recommendation for the
program.
Is this really the guy that was ostra-
cized by nearly everyone in Ann Arbor?
Sure, it always takes two to tango, and
Milano probably could have taken mea-
sures to avoid whahappened on that fate-
ful October night. If he had just walked
home in a different direction, maybe
Kampfer wouldn't have been left on the
sidewalk with a cracked skull.
But Milano claims that he did the right
thing by getting involved in the middle of
what appeared to be an abusive relation-
ship. He would still make the same deci-
sion today. And in his book, he includes
a compelling appeal for people to always
do the right thing, particularly those in
positions of power whose decisions have
a profound impact on the lives of others.
The title "Michigan Men?" targets Rich
Rodriguez and other members of the Ath-
letic Department who he feels did not act
for the rightreasons, or for the right causes.
"I think we can do a lot better for the
people around us," Milano said. "And if I
could use my story as an example of say-
ing how people didn't do what's right for
the people around them, maybe people
will at least think aboutthat."
Today, with the incident in his rear-
view, Milano seems to be a genuinely
happy person. Just before leaving his
photo shoot with the Daily, he told me
he'd prefer if we could use a photo of him
smiling, instead of a serious one.
"I don't know. It's kind of a serious
story, Mike."
"I'm a smiler," he replied without hesita-
tion. "Use as many smiling pictures as pos-
sible."