Alumni Spotlight – Mike Duffey, ’81
Written by Aubrey Gulick, ’23
“The football class for the Class of ’81 was pretty interesting; we had three different head coaches in the four years that we were at Hillsdale,” Duffey said.
Duffey played under Jack McAvoy during his freshmen year. Ron Lynch coached the team for two years, and during Duffey’s senior year, Richard Lowry and David Dye took the team to the championships within their first year of coaching.
“It was a pleasant surprise and a good way to end one’s career, playing the last game for championships,” Duffey said.
During his senior year of high school, McAvoy brought Duffey and his parents to Hillsdale during Christmas break. Duffey’s parents were impressed with the coach and urged their son to pursue his degree at Hillsdale. Duffey was the first person in his family to graduate with a college degree and credits his parent’s encouragement and influence with his success.
As an education major, Duffey initially hoped to coach football after graduation but ultimately pursued a career in the trucking industry. He has since run several trucking facilities across the country and currently works as a weights and inspection coordinator with R&L Carriers in Phoenix, Arizona.
“The fact that I had a teaching degree put me in a different position when it came to working in business, because I often look at things from an educational point of view,” Duffey said. “I gained leadership skills.”
During his time at Hillsdale College, Duffey’s class of 42 football players shrank to just 11 graduating players. He credits his experience with the football team with essential life lessons about growing through adversity. “When it gets rough, some people just jump ship,” he said.
“You’re going to hit a lot of adversity in life,” he said. “We did during our years of playing. Each year we would be reevaluated and reassigned to a different position. I think that carried over into the business realm, in that you’re always reevaluating things and doing your best; things change all the time.”
Meeting with his teammates from 40 years ago to celebrate their successes was important for Duffey. “No one has recognized that we won the first championship in the league,” he said. “My fondest memories come from the success we had that last year with GLIAC, the camaraderie, the teamwork, and the way we came together to make that happen.”
Aubrey Gulick is a junior from Dayton, Ohio, studying history and journalism. She is the oldest of 10 and enjoys playing music with her family while wrangling younger siblings. She hopes to continue pursuing writing and music after graduation, and to eventually raise a family of her own.
Published in January 2022