Remembering Mike Heck
I was happy to read that Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner was named Big East defensive player of the year for a fourth time (March 11). It’s a well deserved honor. The story noted that Kalkbrenner came to Creighton as a gangly, uncoordinated freshman. Reading that, I had a flashback to a teammate of mine at Papillion-La Vista High School — Mike Heck, who became Creighton’s first 7-footer following his outstanding high school career.
Mike was a sophomore on Papillion’s 1970 basketball team when I was a senior. He, like Kalkbrenner, grew into becoming an outstanding player. In Heck’s junior season at Papio, the Monarchs fell to Lincoln East, 74-72, on a buzzer-beating shot in the 1971 state tournament final. The next season, Heck’s team lost to North Platte in the first round of the state tourney.
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Heck accepted a scholarship offer to play at Creighton but had to compete on the Jays’ freshman team due to the NCAA rule preventing freshmen from being on the “varsity” team. Following his sophomore season, he scored 24 points in CU’s 1974-75 season-opening win over North Dakota. Sadly, that was the last game he would play. Two days after that game, Heck was found dead in his dorm room bed. (The cause of death was an enlarged heart.)
Mike Heck (“Still Spinnin’: Meet Mike Heck, the Nebraska high school and Jays standout who had ‘unlimited potential’,” May 24, 2020) will always be remembered as perhaps the best basketball player to come out of Papillion.
John Fey, Plattsmouth, Neb.
The Omaha River?
A letter in the March 18 Public Pulse suggests the importance of having a big symbol representing the city. That’s simple. Let’s just rename the Missouri River “The Omaha River.”
Dan M. Sullivan, Omaha
School voucher madness
It’s March Madness, again! Not only is it on the basketball court but also at the State Capitol in Lincoln. The Legislature is considering school vouchers again. The voters have clearly spoken they don’t want tax dollars going to private schools. Nobody believes that a tax credit doesn’t result in increased taxes somewhere else.
But, back to basketball. The high school tournaments were exciting and enlightening. Congratulations to the private schools! They had a great showing with lots of teams and victories. However, I couldn’t help but think about a couple of scenarios. What happens when an underserved student applies to a private school but one more student would push their enrollment from Class C-1 to B? Or what happens when two students apply for one opening? One student is 5’2” and loves video games. The other student is 6’6” and loves to dunk the basketball. Life isn’t always fair. Let’s try to keep it fair and give all the kids in Nebraska the best education.
Orval Gigstad, Syracuse, Neb.
