Illness can't stop hockey coach



By Tara Holland
Staff Writer
ARCHDALE -- Mike Mollison takes pride in knowing hockey from all sides of the game.

With experience as a player, a coach and an official, he is all about fair play and has gained a lot of respect for his knowledge of the game, said fellow referee and friend Rich Arnesen.

"He didn't appreciate cheap or dirty hockey," Arnesen said. "If you didn't call it, he would. He was fair and he gained a lot of respect in that aspect."

In the decades since he scored his first goal, Mollison, 48, never strayed too far from the rink. Until this year. That's when he was diagnosed with ALS -- Lou Gehrig's Disease -- a devastating neurological disease that robbed him of his ability to play and teach the game.

The Greensboro Youth Hockey Association coach was awarded U.S. Hockey's Southeast District 2006 Volunteer of the Year Award in recognition of the six-month 2005-06 season he finished with his Greensboro Stars Midget team despite his diagnosis.

Mollison grew up playing hockey in Moncton, British Columbia, Canada. He moved to High Point 20 years ago after he graduated college in Indiana.

He served as a minister of music at Wesleyan Christian Academy, but later found a successful career as a real estate broker with Coldwell Banker.


Mollison was diagnosed with ALS on March 15.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive wasting away of motor neurons in the brain and spinal column. Those nerve cells control voluntary muscles, which allow movement.

Over a period of months or years, ALS causes increased muscle weakness, an inability to control movement and problems with speaking, swallowing, breathing, walking and other basic functions. All those basic functions become increasingly difficult over time.

The cause is unknown.

There is no cure.

Last fall, Mollison noticed a change in the way he talked and it was harder for him to keep his balance while wearing skates.

Within months slurred words evolved into an inability to speak simple sentences clearly. An imbalance on skates became an almost complete instability on the ice.

At games last October with fellow referee and friend Arnesen, Mollison spoke of numbness he felt in his lower legs, calves, ankles and feet. It affected his skating and he felt weak, Arnesen said.

By November the awkward sensation moved up his legs to his thighs and forced him to give up playing pick-up games. Fatigue also set in and took a toll on his refereeing.

"The disease is gradual, but relentless," Mollison said. "I didn't expect it to happen so fast."

In just a short time Mollison went from his normal routine to an inability to skate at all.

Northwest Guilford senior and Stars player Derek Mars learned of the diagnosis in an emotional exchange with his mother. Immediately the team of 15- and 16-year-olds rallied around Mollison, he said.

"When his health was degenerating our maturity level really picked up," Mars said. "We started becoming more of a team."

Players and friends began to hold benefit events to help Mollison with medical bills.

Stars player Elliott Montpellier held a music festival at his home in Adam's Farm, which raised about $1,100.

In August, Arnesen held a benefit golf outing, which raised about $4,000.

"I didn't feel obligated, but driven to do it," Arnesen said. "I was able to support a friend."

The Stars also hosted a three-day Mollison Cup Tournament to assist their coach.

"I hated the reason that they were having to do it, but it's great to realize how much you're loved and appreciated," Mollison said.

Just as rapidly as the 2005-06 season progressed, so did Mollison's ALS.

By January, he could barely walk. Though he couldn't step onto the ice, he refused to step out on the Stars team.

"He's a coach that went from being normal to being in a wheelchair," Arnesen said. "Having ALS is not something that people deserve to have, but he's shown that you don't quit -- you persevere. He's set a great example for kids."

Behind the bench, Mollison relied on the help of assistant coaches and he fought through fatigue during exhaustive tournament schedules.

"Hockey is my game, but the life lessons that the players learn will be with them for the rest of their lives," Mollison said. "How could I quit and claim to be a coach?"

At a youth hockey match Arnesen refereed, Mollison struggled to balance and fell off the Stars' bench. The team gathered around him and he was right back up, Arnesen said.

"They lived it too," Arnesen said of the players. "The team supported him just as much as he supported them."

By season's end, the team often helped Mollison across the ice to the locker room.

Now, Mollison continues to struggle with fatigue and stiffness. Just getting up to walk can take several minutes. Aided by a walker, he finds steadiness as he takes small, slow steps around his home. A power wheelchair also helps him get around comfortably.

"There is so much I want to say, but I can't say it," Mollison said. "It's such a cruel disease to be so devastating physically, but mentally still have a sharp mind."

The Stars' season was not very successful, but it didn't stop Mollison's devotion to help each player improve, said Mars, 17, who played on Mollison's team for four seasons.

"We didn't have the speed or the knowledge of hockey," Mars said. "He tried to coach us even harder, so that we could correct our flaws. He cared about us.

"I miss talking to him," added Mars, who moved up an age division this season. "He coached just like any coach, but I feel like he was like our friend."

Contact Tarah Holland at 373-7080 ortholland@news-record.com