‘Spoon’ serves U High basketball in variety of roles
It was 1971 and Mizer, like most young players in
A member of the scout team, Mizer was asked to fill the role of
"It was a night I couldn't miss," Mizer says. "Then I would run down the court the way he (Weatherspoon) did, pumping the arms. They (teammates) started calling it out."
He has been "Spoon" ever since. A piece of
"Hi, Spoon."
"How's it going, Spoon?"
"How many timeouts do we have left, Spoon?"
He wouldn't be the same without it. And
Mizer has been connected to the
He later assisted
His tenure in that capacity has spanned head coaches Hubbard,
"Each coach has their own personality, their own methods, but they've all been successful," Mizer says. "I could name coaches that I would run from. But a constant through all the coaches I've worked with (head coaches and assistants) is that we all got along so well. That makes a big difference. You want to be there."
Highlights during Mizer's time with the program include a Class A state championship in 1995 and state runner-up finishes in 1992 and 2012.
Yet, his involvement isn't driven by wins and losses. It is rooted in a love for Normal's
"You meet families," he says. "You have legacy families that run two, three, four kids through. You get to know these families so well. You get to know the kids so well that it's different.
"The real rewarding thing is to have some of them (families) now being second and third generation. That's how old I am ... I'm on the third generation of some of these families and their kids."
Fitzgerald and McDowell were players at
"Since I was a kid going to (
"It's something our players can look at and pull from as far as just how meaningful it is."
From 2001-04, Mizer also was P.A. announcer, statistician and scorekeeper for
He is a past recipient of
He has juggled it all while raising two daughters, Erin and Molly, with his wife, Deb, and a long career in the insurance business. He owns and operates Creative Insurance Concepts and Consulting Service in
Mizer credits his wife for "allowing me to do something I enjoyed."
"For Spoon to do it as long as he has, it's really awesome," McDowell says. "I think it's special to
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