Central Michigan University Athletics
A Certain Kinship
8/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Of the 100 or so 1100 Club members on hand to watch the Central Michigan football team's scrimmage on Saturday afternoon at Kelly/Shorts Stadium, at least one shared a kinship with first-year coach John Bonamego.
Dennie Howe, a 1965 CMU graduate who was born in Alma and lived there most of his life, beat melanoma cancer three years ago.
"I'd say it's going to get better," Howe said when asked what advice he would give to Bonamego who on Friday underwent the last of his chemotherapy and radiation treatments for tonsil cancer. "You're at your worst right now. And in a month, six weeks, you're going to start eating and you're going to feel better.
"You're with a great team down at the University of Michigan. I firmly believe that. He's just got to do what they say, and I'm sure he will. And you've got to pray. Doesn't hurt."
Howe, who founded two mid-Michigan plastics businesses, has been a CMU season-ticket holder since Kelly/Shorts Stadium opened in 1972 "back when coach (Roy) Kramer was here," he said. "Seen the good, bad and some of the ugly."
Despite the effects of the treatments, Bonamego was in full coach mode on Saturday, bouncing around the field and shouting instruction.
The coach, who took over the program in early February, displayed the infectious upbeat attitude which those in and around the program have quickly come to appreciate.
"Just from watching him right now you can see the enthusiasm he has and that'll be instilled in the players," Howe said, adding that he credits Bonamego and the assistant holdovers from the previous coaching regime for the job they did in signing the freshman class. "It had to be tough this year because he was hired just before signing day, so it's kind of hard to recruit.
"And for him to go through what he did, even though he's there every day, you can't spend six-eight hours getting your cancer taken care of (daily). It's got to affect him."
Howe, who, despite two knee replacements and a fused ankle still plays golf to an 11 handicap, said he took a similar tack when he underwent treatment three years ago.
"I had the same thing with work," he said. "I'd go to work and jump in the car at 11 o'clock and drive down to Lansing. You need something to do because you can't dwell on it.
"I lost my wife to cancer so I know the pitfalls of it."
And while Bonamego is finished with the daily trips to Ann Arbor for treatment, Howe said the immediate road in front of Bonamego is far from easy.
"The doctor warned me the next two to three weeks would be the worst, and it was," he said. "It's not painful, you just don't have any energy and you can't eat anything. He'll start feeling better once we get into the season, I'm sure.
"It takes about a year to get your taste buds and saliva glands working again. They still don't come back completely. I know exactly what he's going through. He's done a tremendous job.
"I know the doctors who took care of him, I met those guys down in Ann Arbor. It's a great place. I go back this Friday for scans to make sure I don't have it in any other places. I do that once a year. And he'll be doing that too I'm sure."
Howe said he has yet to meet Bonamego, but he likes what he sees and what he has heard about the former Chippewa walk-on who spent 16 years as an NFL assistant coach before returning to Mount Pleasant for what he terms his "dream job."
"From what I've seen, and I haven't met coach yet, he's more in the mode of a (former CMU coach) Butch Jones," he said. "Seems to be really outgoing with both the team and the public.
"I think it's going to be exciting. When you've got a quarterback who's got the experience that (Cooper) Rush has had, that's certainly a plus."
The Chippewas open the season on Sept. 3 at home against Oklahoma State. They play host to Football Championship Subdivision Monmouth the following weekend, then play non-leaguers at Syracuse and at Michigan State before returning to Mount Pleasant for their Mid-American Conference opener against Northern Illinois on Oct. 3.
"You're playing Oklahoma State, Michigan State and Syracuse," Howe said. "There's three tough games. We've always played well against State. You never know."
