While in Marion, Illinois, Mike takes a walk down memory lane, re-visiting the campus of Southern Illinois University (SIU) where he went to school.

Mike was on Navy leave traveling to Gulfport, Mississippi when he sees a sign for Southern Illinois University. Curious, he decides to deviate from his route and see what the campus is like.

As he parks his car and walks through the doors of the student centre, out walks Dave Ondyak, an old high school friend. Ondyak stops in his tracks and shouts: “Hey, Krywanio, what you doing” … rather than a brief visit to see the campus, Mike spends the next three days sleeping on Ondyak’s apartment floor and partying like there is no tomorrow!

Fast forward to the autumn of 1975 and Mike arrives at SIU where he is signed up for a degree course in Construction Technology. As he approaches the check-in desk, he is informed that the course has been cancelled. The lady behind the desk offers him a degree course in mortuary science, he declines, she offers him a dental hygienist course, he declines, she hands him a book with all the degree courses the university offers and suggests he reads through it.

Mike takes the catalogue and retreats to a quiet part of the student centre. He thumbs through the catalogue and selects Mechanical Engineering, not knowing anything about what he is letting himself in for. The die is cast.

The Salukis is the name for the SIU football team! Mike in front of the SIU school of engineering.