6B — Tuesday, September 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The Marine whose inspiration Harbaugh found letter-perfect
On Monday, Anthony Riddle
still couldn’t believe what Jim
Harbaugh did with his letter.
After all, a 15-minute press
conference
after
Michigan
beat Florida — during which
Harbaugh
explained
that
Riddle’s
letter
became
his
pregame speech — turned him
into a celebrity.
His Facebook blew up with
requests from journalists and
everyday
individuals
alike,
all looking to talk to the man
that
inspired
Harbaugh’s
Wolverines. But before that, it
started with his sister, Shelle.
“My sister ended up giving
me a call,” Riddle said in a
phone
interview
with
the
Daily. “And she’s like, ‘Hey,
my boyfriend just got an ESPN
alert that Jim Harbaugh just
read some Marine’s letter. Was
that you?’ ”
Yes, it was.
***
Before the letter, there was a
speech.
Riddle
was
tasked
with
writing about his friend, who
is set to receive an award in the
coming month.
And for the entire offseason,
Riddle had heard a collection
of analysts say that Michigan
was too inexperienced to have
success in 2017. Finally, while
writing the speech for his
friend with ESPN and Big Ten
Network on in the background,
he decided he needed a break.
So nine days ago, on the
Sunday
before
Michigan’s
season
opener,
instead
of
finishing his speech, he started
writing the letter.
He proofread it.
He Googled Jim Harbaugh’s
email address, picking the only
one he could find.
He clicked send.
Riddle
never
expected
Harbaugh would read it, let
alone reply. He sent the email
thinking to himself, “What’s
the worst that could happen?”
A half day later, a response
from Michigan’s coach arrived
in his inbox.
“I’m sitting at work, and it
says Jim Harbaugh,” Riddle
said. “My hands started shaking
and I’m like, ‘No way.’ ”
Harbaugh told Riddle that
he had put the irrelevance of
youth in better perspective
than he could have himself, and
he admitted as much during
his press conference Saturday
night.
And he said that he would
be sharing the letter with the
team. But Riddle expected it
to surface in practice and fade
away quietly.
But now you know what
really happened.
The thing is, it doesn’t stop
there.
In
his
original
reply,
Harbaugh invited Riddle to
Ann Arbor, asking to meet the
Jackson, Mich. native and draw
on his experiences. On Monday,
Harbaugh took
it a step further
—
telling
Riddle that he
is welcome to
be on the field
for a game of
his choosing.
“It’s
hard
because
I
want to be as
respectful
to
him
and
not
take up any unneeded time,”
Riddle said. “I think overall
it just speaks volumes for
what type of a person he is.
He could’ve just looked at that
letter and said, ‘Oh, I get 50,000
of these a day.’”
***
Riddle’s path to the Marines
began with a dream that would
be familiar to most, but real
to
him
—
he
wanted to be an
astronaut.
In sixth grade,
his
father
told
him that if he
worked hard, he
would
be
able
to get there, but
added a word of
caution: The men
who go to space
are some of the
smartest people in the world.
Three years later, Riddle
entered
high
school
and
realized
his
dream
needed
some tinkering.
“Going into high school,
I didn’t have the greatest
grades,” Riddle said. “I didn’t
have the worst, I wasn’t dumb
by any means. But I obviously
didn’t have the grades to be
like, ‘All right, I’m going to be
an astronaut one day.’ ”
So he set out on a new path.
He knew that most astronauts
were former pilots and figured
that, if he became a good
enough pilot, his dream might
be attainable after all.
But after evaluating his options
for service school, he found
himself visiting his brother’s best
friend at boot camp in 1996. Then
came the revelation.
“From that day on,” Riddle
explained, “I said, ‘That’s what
I’m doing.’ ”
Just after his high school
graduation,
he
joined
the
Marines.
But
two
weeks
into boot camp, he broke his
collarbone.
Riddle
was
forced
into
medical rehab, all the while
watching everyone else around
him move on and graduate.
Eventually, he’d had enough.
“It (was) very depressing
being in this medical rehab
platoon,” Riddle said. “So I was
there for about a week and I
went back down to the doctor’s
office and said, ‘Look, I’m
not gonna sit here and watch
everyone else move on and
train, and I’m not gonna sit here
for the next six weeks.’
“And she told me, ‘Well in
order for you to get back into a
platoon, you have to get down
and do push-ups … and then
you have to do a physical fitness
test.’ ”
He did the push-ups. Then he
beat everyone in the physical
fitness test. He ran three miles
in 17:10, and did 28 pull-ups and
175 sit-ups in two minutes. He
still had a broken collarbone.
He graduated boot camp in
October of 2000, and became a
platoon sergeant as a corporal
— a position typically reserved
for military members in their
early 30s — roughly two years
later.
He then led 52 Marines, all
under the age of 20, into Iraq.
The video of Sadam Hussein’s
statue being torn down was
filmed from his vehicle.
He did that all before his
22nd birthday. And that’s what
he told Jim Harbaugh in his
letter.
Now he has a blank check to
cash. And he’s spending it the
way he wants to.
“(My sister) is a Spartans
fan,”
Riddle
said.
“She
graduated
from
(Michigan
State), so she’s like, ‘If he offers
you to come to a game, that’s
the one I want to go to.’
“I said, ‘No, if he offers me
to come to a game it’s gonna be
against Ohio.’ ”
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh read the Michigan football team a letter from Anthony Riddle the night before the Wolverines opened the year by beating Florida.
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
“I’m sitting
at work, and
it says Jim
Harbaugh.”