Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame
Michale Spicer (Football, 2000-03):
Few defenders have wreaked more havoc on opposing offenses than Michale Spicer.
A two-time All-Southern Conference selection at defensive end, Spicer remains Western Carolina's all-time leader with 56.5 career tackles for loss and ranks second in program history with 29 career sacks. His relentless play helped define Catamount defenses in the early 2000s and established him as one of the most disruptive defenders ever to wear the Purple and Gold.
Spicer closed his WCU career with 148 career tackles. Tagging with counterpart Nick McNeil, he recorded a WCU single season record 26 TFLs in 2002. Spicer was just one career sack behind fellow WCU Hall of Fame honoree, Louis Cooper (30.0, 1981-84). He added four fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, and one career interception as a Catamount.
Spicer launched his collegiate career with six sacks as a true freshman in 2000, tied for the second-most by a Catamount rookie defender all-time. He had a banner year in 2002, recording a program record 26 tackles for loss, including 11 sacks, tied for the second-most in a single season. He was a consensus first-team All-SoCon selection in '02, averaging 2.36 TFLs per game to lead the conference and rank seventh in the NCAA. Spicer was named to the second-team All-Region and a third-team All-America selection by Don Hansen's Football Gazette.
Dubbed the SoCon's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and tagged as the sixth-best returning defensive end in the country by The Sports Network going into his senior season in 2003, Spicer helped the Catamounts lead the conference in rushing defense that fall. He was credited with 14.5 tackles for loss as a senior, the 13th-best single-season total in WCU football history and was invited to the Blue-Gray Classic all-star game.
Following his Catamount career, Spicer enjoyed a lengthy professional career that included time in the NFL, Arena Football League, and United Football League, earning AFL All-Rookie honors and later first-team All-UFL recognition.
The Goldsboro, N.C., native played two seasons with the Los Angeles Avengers (2005-06), earning AFL All-Rookie Team recognition. He also played for both the New Orleans VooDoo and Columbus Destroyers of the AFL between 2007 and 2008, earning the team's Defensive Lineman of the Year honors from New Orleans. He then spent two seasons in the United Football League with the New York Sentinels / Hartford Colonials franchise in 2009 and 2010, collecting first-team All-UFL honors.
Spicer returned indoors in 2012, with a brief stint with the Spokane Shock before joining the practice squad of perennial AFL powerhouse Arizona Rattlers. He later closed his professional career with the Los Angeles KISS in 2014-15. All told, he played in 88 career AFL games with 56 total tackles. with 13.5 sacks and a pair of forced fumbles.
Since his playing days concluded, Spicer has continued impacting young athletes through coaching, helping develop all-conference, all-region, and All-America performers at both the high school and collegiate levels. He began at Bishop Montgomery High as the defensive line coach and special teams coordinator. He helped guide the prep team to four-straight playoff berths while coaching four all-league defensive linemen.
Spicer has coached the defensive line for the NCAA Division III combined programs of Pomona-Pitzer College since 2017, mentoring numerous All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) selections, a pair of All-Region honorees, and an All-American on special teams.
