ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
TYLER DUNNE

Eight-year old inspiration, Michael Napoleone missed his deceased grandmother more than anything. Christmas just “wasn’t the same without Nana,” he told his mother.

As young Michael, who ferociously battled leukemia lymphoma, laid deathly ill with his lungs full of fluid and his oxygen level plummeting, the Napoleone family had to make the toughest decision in the world.

“Do you want to go see Nana?” his mother asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay. You can see her.”

Surrounded by his family, Michael’s suffering finally came to an end December 30th. Physically, his presence was lost but his aura has created a spiritual bond that binds the St. John Fisher women’s basketball team far greater than any combination of X’s and O’s.

Calling hours were packed. Over 1,000 people visited Michael and his family in one day. The wait outside the entrance was two hours. And it was exactly what the doctor ordered for Ashley Napoleone, Michael’s noble older sister. 

“Everyone came,” said a mystified Napoleone. “It felt really good that I had the support and it made it easier to come back to school. The team has been great. Our season is dedicated to Michael.”

And then some.

Michael’s perseverence will never be forgotten. He has become the team’s sixth man on the court, while providing an extra ounce of courage in each player. Donning a ribbon over their hearts and “MN” wristbands, Michael’s soul lives on through the Cardinals basketball team.

Napoleone recalled a moving speech from assistant coach Marianne O’Connor Ermi.
“She said, ‘when you’re tired, think of Michael because he never complained and kept going no matter how tired he was.’

“Sometimes you get tired and don’t want to go but you’re alive,” Napoleone said. “It’s  good that you’re tired. Push through it. It’s not a bad thing. You definitely learn from it.”

Fast forward to the Chase Scholarship Tournament opener against host Keuka College, Jan. 9. In the second half the Cardinals overcame a 10-point second half deficit to make it a barnburner thriller. Keuka sunk two free throws to snag a one-point edge with only 15 ticks left. The climatic final possession still plays vividly in Napoleone’s memory. Michael is definitely a fan of Fisher basketball

“Mary Francis came down and circled around the whole court and just threw up this shot and I thought it’d bounce off the backboard but it went in.”

Interviewed after the 52-51 win, Francis said that she “had a little angel on her shoulder.”

Could it be divine intervention?

“I don’t know,” Napoleone said with a smile. “There have been weird things that have happened lately in my family. Maybe they’d happen anyway but to me its like, ‘Michael what are you up to?’”

Exhibit A. As the Napoleones frantically searched for Michael’s trademark baseball cap to have buried with him, luck was running out. For some reason the very hat that he wore constantly was nowhere to be found. That was until Ashley’s older brother Mark, who was having a bad day, went to the garage in the attic to work out. To his utter amazement the hat rested on the workout bench. Then Napoleone’s parents discovered a Thanksgiving card which said, “Dear Mom and Dad, Thank you for taking care of me. I Love You. Happy Thanksgiving. Love, Mike.” Kind of funny that Michael was diagnosed on Thanksgiving two years prior and the family just found the card.

“It eases my mind that maybe he’s still here,” Napoleone said. 
But still Napoleone and Michael shared a unique big sister-little brother relationship that will be missed.

“Him and I were very close,” she said. “The hardest part for me is that I can’t talk to him and I always did. So I still find myself talking to him which makes me feel better.

“It’s also hard because he was such a big part of our lives. You can definitely tell he’s gone.”

But in any family death, there are ways to cope; silver linings to turn negatives into positives. Through Michael’s disease full of lapses, Napoleone has turned this positive thinking mechanism into an art form.

“You remember the good things that have happened. We remember how he was before he was sick. We didn’t want Michael to be sick anymore. In his casket he finally looked peaceful. His face wasn’t drooping because it wasn’t paralyzed.”

Heaven certainly has a new “Rudy” of their own as Michael sported his beloved Notre Dame autographed Jeff Samardja jersey in his casket.

It’s a miracle in itself that Napoleone dug out the will to fly back to Rochester from N.C., where Michael died, to return to the normalcy of class and basketball. There isn’t a simple on/off switch that one can flick to assimilate into the demanding student-athlete routine after such a tragic incident. After deep soul searching, Napoleone returned to the grind of collegiate basketball.

“If he was still alive and going through two transplants I probably would have stayed in Carolina but with him gone, I can’t hide forever.

“I have a hard time when I’m home and think about it. But then I’ll go to practice and my friends will be there. Being around them has been great. It wasn’t my idea to get the ribbons so when they got them out I was in tears.”

On the team’s game-planning board in the locker room, coach Phil Kahler will continue to draw up defenses and press-breakers among the game’s other intricacies. But permanently hovering above all of the Cardinals strategizing on that board are the initials ‘MN.’

For the rest of the year, four words serve as the team’s motivation to sweat and bleed Cardinal red on the court.

It’s a fuel that no other Empire 8 team possesses.

They’re four words that Ashley says before every game.

“This one’s for Michael.”  

thd02980@sjfc.edu