LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – A group of MSU football players and members of the dance team partnered up Thursday afternoon to visit Riddle Elementary School.
It was set up by an organization that has a special connection to the Spartan community.
Karen Sadler lost her son, Mike Sadler, back in 2016 after a car crash. He was a punter for the MSU football team.
Since then, Karen has created the Mike Sadler Foundation to honor his life and give back to different communities.
Karen lives in Grand Rapids. Until now, most of the events for the foundation have taken place on the west side of the state.
But with her son’s ties to MSU and the Lansing community, they decided to bring the organization to the capital area.
Players were able to read to the students while also teaching kids about kindness and how to treat others with respect.
Karen says she believes her son would be proud if he was here today.
“Oh, I think he’d be very humbled. He did so many good things for people and he changed lives himself, so we’re doing one very small portion of what he would’ve done,” said Karen Sadler.
“For the kids here, the school, just to see their role models, their heroes, the people they look up to. Some of them may aspire to be student-athletes at the collegiate level one day,” said MSU Director of Player Relations, Darien Harris.
The Michael Sadler Foundation also has a program called ‘Game Changers,’ which recruits high school ambassadors to teach younger students how to leave their own legacy, like Michael left his.
