Something has been true of all the assistant coaches that have worked for the Sycamore program under the leadership of third-year head coach Trent Miles - experience and dedication. The true definition of this characteristic is on display daily around Memorial Stadium when it comes to offensive line coach Mike Simmonds, who is making his return to Indiana State after a highly successful professional football career and stints as a head coach at the high school football level and as an assistant at South Florida, a member of the BIG EAST Conference.

Simmonds, who played for Indiana State along the offensive line from 1983 to 1986, is now back to where it all started for him as a player under head coach Dennis Raetz at Memorial Stadium. Following a collegiate playing career in which he helped ISU to its highest levels of success by reaching the NCAA Playoffs in 1983 & 1984, Simmonds was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1987 and spent four seasons in the professional ranks as a player. He started at offensive guard for the Bucs in 1999 and was named the NFL Offensive Lineman Of The Week that year following a game versus the Chicago Bears.

After his playing days were over, Simmonds spent six years as an assistant coach at Hillsborough High in Florida, where his teams compiled a record of 54-14 and reached the state championship game in 1996. He then was the head coach at Jeffersonville High School, located in Tampa, Fla., where he recorded a mark of 75-29 and led the Dragons to the State Championship contest in 2002 & 2004, while reaching the playoffs in each of his final seven seasons with the team. During his time as head coach, Jeffersonville had 74 players earn college scholarships, including Andre Caldwell, who currently stars with the Cincinnati Bengals as well as Stephen Garcia, who is the junior starting quarterback for the Steve Spurrier-led South Carolina Gamecocks.

He then returned back to the collegiate game working for four seasons at South Florida. There his offensive line was one of the best in the BIG EAST as the team set school records and went on to earn national recognition for their strong showing on the football field.
As one can clearly see, Mike Simmonds' results as a player and coach show the dedication he has had to his profession during his successful run in the coaching ranks.

But on June 28, 2009, while on a vacation with his wife Jamie and daughters Amanda, Lauren and Emily in the mountains of North Carolina, he became something more to another family in Florida - the Gradys.

A hero.

The tolls of the college football life afford rare opportunities for a family to spend quality time together. Much more so now as Simmonds works in Terre Haute while his family continues to reside some 845 miles away in Tampa, Fla. But before his final season at South Florida, Simmonds took his family on an ordinary vacation to North Carolina for two weeks and on June 28, the family decided to spend their day driving along a winding road in the mountains - Highway 64 - in hopes of catching a glimpse of four famous waterfalls along the route.

And on this day, the Simmonds & Grady's lives would never be the same.

After spending time at their first stop, the family arrived at Upper Cullasaja Falls, which is known locally as "Bust Yer Butt Falls", known as such because of dark algae which makes the rock formations in the water so slippery that visitors are known to slide down the falls in some spots.

While walking along the river and rocks, Simmonds noticed that something wasn't right as a group of other onlookers to the Falls that day were standing around the rock formations and river, but instead of the normal jubilant setting, Simmonds and his family found a different scene that day.

There was lots of yelling, lots of movement and Simmonds was quick to act to see what it was all about as it appeared that someone was in danger.

That someone was 12-year old Austin Grady, who was also on vacation with his family which included father, Mike, brother Tyler and their mother, Lisa.

Austin and his father Mike were doing what everybody else has done for a long time, enjoying the day as a family at the Falls. Austin had become entrapped by a rock formation lying beneath the waters and his father Mike as well as others were at once trying to free Austin from the dangerous situation while preventing him falling beneath the water at the same time. His father Mike had positioned himself as a human shield from the roaring waters of the falls while a team of paramedics and others at the scene were trying to free Austin from his entrapment below the water.

After nearly a half hour, Austin finally became dislodged and was hanging on to the very rope paramedics used to free him from under the water. His body was drained of all energy and as he was being reeled in by those that dislodged him until Austin lost hold of the rope that was intended to save him. His was exhausted, seriously injured and floating with the water at a rapid pace with not much hope in sight.

That is until Simmonds stepped in and became a true hero. He crawled along a large, flat rock, reached as far as he could without falling over the falls himself and clutched onto Austin. Simmonds then steadied himself and was able to pull himself and the young boy up the rock away from the river.

"I just reached out and grabbed his left wrist," Simmonds said. "I didn't say nothing to him, but I knew I had him good." He heard another rescuer call to him and said it sounded like God was talking to him: "Don't let him go. He ain't got nothing left."

Simmonds is quick to point out that Mike Grady, Austin's father, was the true hero of the whole situation. The father himself had become entrapped by the rocks below the water after protecting his son's precious life for over a half hour from the water and eventually drowned in the very waters that he worked so hard to save his own son from. Yes, Mike Simmonds became a hero that day for pulling Austin from the water, but his father, Mike Grady, sacrificed his own life so that his son Austin would live.

"Mike Grady is a true hero because he gave his life to save his son," Simmonds said. "I've never seen anything like it. He didn't have a whole lot left to try to get himself out of there with their help,. We watched a heroic effort, the whole thing from start to finish. The one consolation is that the way Mr. Grady was positioned, I know he saw Austin get out. He knew he saved his son."

Even over a year after that day in the mountains of North Carolina, Simmonds has continued to help the family overcome the tragedy. He has given of his time to help to continue to raise money in Florida for the trust funds that have been established for the Grady family. Dave Magazu, who coached at Indiana State from 1987-1989 and is the current offensive line coach with the Carolina Panthers, donated through the team, a large sum of money to the Grady Family Trust.

"I wish I could have done more. It's frustrating knowing everybody didn't get out," Simmonds said. "God was there that day, giving Mike and the rescuers the strength to get the young man out. We saw a miracle that day. It's something my family will never forget, and we want to do something to help them out."

Sycamore fans who wish can make donations to the Grady family in honor of Mike Simmonds may do so at P.O. Box 940654, Maitland, FL 32794-0654. Checks can be made to Lisa, Austin or Tyler Grady.

Indiana State is proud to have Mike Simmonds as an assistant coach and member of the Sycamore football family no doubt. Not only because of his experience on the field and his dedication to improving the lives of young men through the game of football, but also because of the heroism and inspiration that he has displayed with lives in jeopardy - including his own.

Mike Simmonds is not only a hero, but a role model all Sycamore fans and residents of the Wabash Valley can be proud to call one of their own.