More than 250 wins. 12 members of the 1,000-point club and six in the 500-rebound club. Lead the Messiah men’s basketball program to its best season in program history in 1978-79. NCCAA National Coach of the Year in 1973. A member of the Messiah Hall of Honor. Mike Shaker accomplished a lot in his 18 years at Messiah.
But Shaker’s biggest impact wasn’t on the court or in the win column.
“Coach and I went at it for four years, but we had a common bond relative to competitiveness and wanting to win and wanting to get better that made our relationship very special to me after Messiah,” 1979 alum and new Messiah Hall of Honor member Brian Hoyt said.
Shaker touched the lives of many players throughout his time at Messiah, which led to a Hall of Honor induction in 2013. The impact that Shaker had on the program is why Hoyt decided to start the Coach Mike Shaker Endowment.
“You have guys that you play with that are ahead of you and some behind,” Hoyt said. “All of a sudden you have 50-75 guys that you know. And I started thinking what really was at the center of that, and it was Coach Shaker and the impact that he had.
“I was talking to three, maybe four people after the ceremony came up,” Hoyt continued. “A couple of them, even before they congratulated me said ‘What Mike has done for Messiah is underappreciated, and this gives him the type of recognition that many, many people understood at Messiah.’”
The endowment will help fund the second graduate assistant spot for the Messiah men’s basketball program.
“That honor you gave me was the best honor I’ve had,” Shaker said of the endowment in his name.
“I am very excited for the development of the
Coach Mike Shaker Endowment for Men's Basketball! Coach Shaker had a tremendous impact on the athletes that he coached and also the coaches he coached alongside at Messiah,” current Messiah men’s basketball head coach, Rick Van Pelt said. “He was my first college coach and made a big impact on my life.”
In addition to honor Coach Shaker, both Hoyt and Shaker hope the endowment brings the Messiah men’s basketball alumni together.
“I think this would be a great vehicle to connect us (the alumni),” Hoyt said of the alumni. “Not everyone has to give, but it’s something that can unite us and then other things can happen.”
“Messiah’s a special place. It was all connected back then with the impact they had on the player through camps,” Shaker added about the impact his players had on the campus and community.
The endowment will have a big impact not only on the Messiah men’s basketball program, but also give a start to those in the coaching profession.
“With the creation of this endowment his legacy of impacting the men of the Messiah Basketball program will carry on indefinitely,” Van Pelt said. “The funds from the endowment will primarily help us to hire Men’s Basketball Graduate Assistant coaches, who after two years with us, will take the “Messiah Way” to many corners of the basketball world as they continue their careers in coaching! This is a perfect way to honor the legacy of coach Shaker!”
Click here to donate to the
Coach Mike Shaker Endowment.
