Michigan State coach Tom Izzo hopes '15,000 people rise to their feet' to honor those who saved Mike Garland

East Lansing, Mich. – Tuesday was one of the greatest days of the year for Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. Well, maybe not the entire day, but part of the day, when former Spartan assistant coach and one of Izzo’s best friends, Mike Garland, walked through the office doors.

Garland nearly died in August due to cardiac arrest caused by a failure in the electrical system in his heart. It happened while he and his wife were running errands on a sunny, summer day in the Lansing area. Garland’s heart stopped, and the car he was driving wrecked into a tree near the side of the road in Holt, Mich.

In an amazing story first detailed by WILX Channel 10 in Lansing, Garland was saved by a succession of life-saving help from good samaritans, first responders, doctors, nurses, prayers and – according to Izzo – maybe even a miracle. 

Izzo was still feeling terrible about Monday’s loss to Purdue on Tuesday when Garland visited Izzo at the basketball office. The room brightened immediately.

Garland, who retired in 2022 after coaching with Izzo at Michigan State for 21 years, has been to the basketball offices a few other times this season. He’s a bit slimmer now, but he is in the process of making a full recovery, thanks to help from concerned citizens and first responders.

Michigan State basketball will pay tribute to those first responders, and first responders everywhere, prior to Thursday’s game against Rutgers by recognizing those who played a pivotal role in saving Garland’s life.

“I hope 15,000 people rise to their feet and I hope it makes them think about what’s really important,” Izzo said on Tuesday, the first time he has spoken at length about nearly losing Garland, with whom he has been close friends since they were freshmen in college at Northern Michigan in the early 1970s.

“Seeing Mike walk in today, seeing him, is just something special for me because I know the truth on where he was from life and death,” Izzo said. “We have been wanting to do something to pay tribute. We wanted to make sure Mike was back healthy, which he is.”

The tribute at Michigan State happens to coincide with continued coverage of Damar Hamlin’s recovery from a near-fatal cardiac event, which took place on Jan. 2. The Buffalo Bills defensive back was treated on live television, which left viewers shocked and in concerned disbelief as he was transported to a Cincinnati hospital and the NFL game that he had been participating in was canceled. 

“He (Hamlin) went through a lot what Mike went through,” Izzo said. “A very, very similar situation on what the heart did. He’s recovering and Mike’s recovering.”

Hamlin was saved, initially, by medical personnel who were working the game. Garland was saved initially by two local motorists who stopped their cars and tended to Garland, performing CPR while waiting for police and paramedics to arrive.

“Cars were driving by,” Izzo said. “If one more car drove by, my buddy wouldn’t be here. It was one more car, it was that close, second-wise. You can only be out for so long. 

“Those guys responded and saved his life. Legitimate heroes. And there were so many other people. First, the guys that stopped, and then the police, then the paramedics, then in the hospital. I was there for two days and you realize what a team of people it takes.”

A PROPER TRIBUTE

Izzo wanted that team to be recognized before a Michigan State basketball game this season.

“There are certain professions that get paid the least, sort of, and probably are responsible for the most,” Izzo said. “That’s what I think of our first responders – an ambulance driver, a paramedic, police officers. All that these guys did is save somebody’s life.

“For me it was one of my few best friends. To witness what I witnessed, to see the video, the step-by-step what happened, from a minute after the accident, to see how that went, all the way to that truck pulling up to the hospital, and then what happened in the hospital, it just took so many people. We just don’t appreciate it until it happens to us. But this one did happen to me.”

Izzo described the jarring horror of receiving the news in August. It happened when Izzo was away for what he expected to be the only weekend of relaxation he would get all summer at his Lake Michigan cottage.

“I had been on the road (recruiting),” Izzo said. “I went out there on Friday night, late. I got up Saturday morning and I went for a little jog, and I’m sitting there looking at the lake, and my daughter is there and she screams that Mike’s wife is on the phone and Mike might be dead.

“I jumped on the phone for :10 seconds and I told my family to talk to his wife, and I jumped in the car and drove a little bit above the normal speed limit to get to the hospital.”

Izzo’s Chief of Staff, Garrett Briningstool, spoke with Izzo on the phone as Izzo raced back to the Lansing area.

“Garrett was giving me play-by-play as I was going,” Izzo said. “At one time it was, ‘Slow down. It’s probably not going to matter.’”

Izzo was told to expect the worst when he arrived. 

Garland was placed on a ventilator. Izzo said he was able to visit Garland’s hospital room. Izzo whispered encouragement in his ear. 

Izzo called the two samaritans who had stopped and helped Garland, and thanked them profusely. 

After 24 hours on the ventilator, Garland woke up. 

“Miracle! Miracle,” Izzo said. “I went out to (the sheriff’s office in) Mason and saw some video and some things that they had done. 

“And now Mike’s going to live to see more grandchildren and a better life because a couple of people stopped, a team of people rescued him, some incredible doctors and nurses took care of him. It’s the American dream, man. It’s what it’s all about. 

“To think that you’re within seconds, and those guys live it every day, and I think my damn game against Purdue was life-and-death. It brings so much perspective.

“There are so many of those people that we should honor every day that do so much for us.”

“It took teamwork and it’s what I call maximum execution,” Garland told WILX-TV during an interview which was aired and published October. “That’s what the Michigan State basketball program has been about, and that’s what happened that saved my life.”

Thursday night, Izzo, Garland, Spartan fans and the Michigan State basketball community will get a chance to voice their thanks in a public setting at Breslin Center.