Mad Dog

The world lost a wonderful person yesterday, Charles “Mad Dog” Thornhill, at a very young 62 years old. Charlie came to Michigan State University to play football and did he ever. Charlie was a line backer that really made a difference. He played in 1965 and 1966 National Championship teams and you did not want to get hit by him. His career made a name for him. He bleeds green and everyone always wanted to interview him at the beginning of a new season and before the games. He was at awards banquets and often time spoke to the team before the game. You would think her was the coach. But this is not what made Charlie great.


I met Charlie a long time ago and I loved him once I got over the initial shock. You would swear he was going to tear you apart but Charlie was an awesome person. I talked to him about football some but I talked to him about so much more. I learned a lot from him and I almost always walked away learning something and all fired up. I loved talking to Charlie. As much as I hated to see him go, I was excited about him retiring next year.


One of the things about Charlie, he never wanted the lime light. Oh sure he did great in front of a crowd but he really just wanted to be in the background. One of his favorite things to do was motivation speaking to kids, especially the kids that were troubled. That was one of the things he planned to do once retiring. That is one of the things that, at least for me, was the greatest things about Charlie. The other thing, I think everyone loved Charlie, well maybe not the 1966 Norte Dame team but you can not please everyone. I watched some pretty young kids meet him before. They wore worried at first, so was I. He commanded attention and respect but, in the end, everyone loved him.

I was crushed when I saw that he had passed yesterday evening. I will so miss Charlie and I know I will always remember his birthday, April 1. Now I hated to post about this at this time of the year but I just felt I needed to. I hope you will walk away with something. Remember your parents, your siblings, your friends, even your pets will not be around forever. What ever you do, don’t forget to tell them how much they mean to you. Don’t ever regret that you did not say what you wanted to say. Don’t let silly little disagreements keep you away from your loved ones. Some day they will not be there. Charlie sure wasn't. I saw him yesterday morning and now he is gone.

Rest in Peace Charlie.



Well, uh, [Pointing to Mad Dog] That's a linebacker –Amazing Grace and Chuck