'Fight Like a Champion' takes on new meaning for Tosa West coach
West coach Mike Landisch gets a hug from Winston Wynn after the Trojans' 75-42 win over St. Francis on Jan. 29. Photo By Scott Krahn
Fight Like a Champion.
That's an adage Wauwatosa West boys basketball coach Mike Landisch has used to motivate his players.
Unfortunately, those three words have taken on a more urgent and personal meaning off the court for the 30-year-old Landisch, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer early last week.
"I have always told the team to fight like a champion," Landisch said this week. "Now they are preaching the same thing to me."
Two weeks ago Landisch found himself suffering from what he thought was a severe back problem, with pain all the way down his leg. He checked into the hospital, where it was thought he might have kidney stones.
He was in so much pain he missed his team's 64-55 win over Whitnall on Jan. 22. Three days later, he received the news that he had kidney cancer.
After Landisch told his team of his situation, A.J. Krause, one of the Trojans' starting guards, did some research and found out orange is the color that represents the fight against kidney cancer. His mom then went out and bought the orange shoelaces that the players wore in an emotional 94-87 nonconference victory over Racine Horlick the next night.
Mike Landisch is finding out that he is someone special. They say when adversity strikes you find out who your friends are - and they just don't wear the forest green and white of Tosa West.
"I have had an incredible amount of calls, e-mails, cards," he said, "from all over the city of Wauwatosa. East side, west side, it doesn't matter where."
After the Horlick game, some of the players' fathers got together with the Booster Club and purchased 300 orange T-shirts for the public to wear on Friday to show their support for Landisch. The T-shirts the players wore said, "Fight Like a Champion."
Even St. Francis, the Trojans' opponent that evening, wore orange T-shirts in support of the Tosa coach.
Landisch, his wife, Colleen, and his 16-month-old daughter, Makenna, were supposed to be out of town for the weekend. But Landisch made one stop first.
"I wanted to be with my team one last time for the year," Landisch said. "It turned out to be more special than I thought."
Landisch was taken aback by what he saw that evening.
"Even St. Francis was so gracious about it," he said. "I can't it put into words. I was overjoyed, happy, torn up inside that so many people cared about me and had my back. It was incredible."
Then with three minutes left in the game and the Trojans on their way to a 75-42 romping, assistant coach Chad Stelse called a timeout.
"I was mad at him," Landisch said. "I said, 'What are you doing?' "
Stelse didn't call timeout to talk strategy or make a substitution. An announcement was made asking the audience for a round of applause for Landisch, in this, his final game of the season.
Four days later crosstown rival Wauwatosa East showed its support for Landisch, a 1998 Tosa East graduate and a fifth-grade teacher at Eisenhower Middle School, when the Red Raiders hosted Marquette.
Tosa West assistant coach Ryan Bailey and his family accepted donations for orange T-shirts at the door. The boys team wore orange for the game warm-ups, and the girls will do the same for the annual Tosa East-Tosa West game Tuesday at Tosa East. The coaches and administrators wore orange ribbons.
"This was touching and moving," Landisch said. "I've had tears every day since last Friday for all the love and support I've been shown."
In the next few days Landisch and the doctors will know more about his situation and then draw up a plan. You can't throw a box-and-one or a full-court press on cancer. But you can fight like a champion.
Mike, you have a lot of people pulling for you.
Tom "Sky" Skibosh can be reached at (262) 446-6620. Read Sky's blog at WauwatosaNOW.com.
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