James Russell Lesousky is the greatest man I've ever known.  He picked me up from school when I was sick or had some digestive issues that have plagued me my whole life.  My brother Matthew, sister Lauren, and I spent many summers at the Lesousky household while my mom was working to support us all.  We'd watch the price is right followed by Cubs baseball games almost every day before dinner.  He'd also preach about UK Wildcat basketball, even though I don't recall ever watching a game with him.  Probably because mom would take us home at night when most of the UK basketball games were played.

There's a reason so many families that grew up in the Louisville, KY area in the 80s and 90s can be described as a House Divided.  The Louisville Cardinals peaked under Denny Crum in the 1980s and Rick Pitino took the UK Wildcats to heights they hadn't seen in decades in the 1990s.  My mom (UK), Matthew (UL), and Lauren (UL) had made their life long choices by the spring of 1993.  I couldn't decide between the two.

And that's where my mom made an impact.  She decided to make the NCAA basketball tournament a fun experience for us by having everyone pick teams to potentially advance further than her KY Wildcats.  My sister (the loyal one) chose UL, my brother (the smart one) chose the #1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels.  I didn't know what to do, so I chose Michigan.  It turned out both my brother and myself were right and won.  I was hooked on Michigan ever since.  Idk, Maybe that means I'm the loyal one.

A year or two after that, I was watching TV by myself and stumbled across this sport I wasn't familiar with called "Football" and sure enough Michigan was playing.  Never heard of it.  But it got my attention because it was Michigan and there was a guy named Tyrone Wheatley that appeared to be awesome.  After that, I was engrossed in football.  Especially Michigan football.  Even watched pay per view games on scrambled TV like other young men might watch adult content (so I've heard).

Shortly after that, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer.  I had an idea of what that meant as my mom's fiance had just passed away from that same horrible disease.  But I kept spending time with my grandpa and nothing was different.  We'd watch the price is right, followed by the Cubs baseball game, then dinner, then home.  Until it wasn't.

Thanksgiving 1996 was the worst day of my life...until it wasn't.  The Lesousky family is very proud of their holiday gatherings.  Thanksgiving 1996 we were told was likely the last time we'd see my grandfather, James Russell Lesousky.  That was not what I had planned.  It couldn't be true.  Nonetheless people disappeared here and there and came back crying.  Until I was the only one that hadn't seen him.  I refused.  He was going to get better, I'd see him then.  My mom took my hand and walked me into the living room where we had watched hundreds of episodes of the price is right and hundreds of Cubs games.  The setting was the same, but felt so different.

I sat down at the end of the couch next to his recliner, as I had for so many years.  But I was frozen.  Grandpa never talked about football.  And before that day, I didn't know he cared about the sport.  Which made the next few moments so special.  Michigan had beaten Ohio State just a few days prior and he broke what seemed like minutes of silence by saying "Michigan won one for ya".  And all of the sudden, everything was ok.  At the end of his life, he knew the exact words to comfort his 13 year old grandson.  And that's the man James Russell Lesousky was.  He did everything he could for the people he loved, until the day he died.

He passed away about a week later.  Shortly after that, I bought a shirt that said "There's more to life than Michigan football...when you find out what it is, let me know".  Michigan won the national championship that year.  And if that's where Grandpa Lesousky's story ended, it would have been a great one.

Monday, January 8th 2024 was James Russell Lesousky's 100th birthday.  And somewhere the baseball ace and basketball sharpshooter who used to wear #5 was smiling and saying "Michigan won one for ya".