ASU super fan Michael Randle has a phrase tattooed on his left arm that reads "I am not a victim." It's a daily reminder to himself that his past doesn't limit his future.
That mantra has gotten him all the way to Row C4, behind the ASU bench at every men’s basketball home game at Desert Financial Arena. He argues it's a seat he shouldn't be sitting in.
Randle's passion for basketball has established him as one of the more knowledgeable and passionate fans in the building, and he persevered through a rough upbringing to get there.
Randle’s foray into ASU fandom traces back to a strong relationship with former ASU point guard Jahii Carson during Carson's varsity basketball career at Mesa High School from 2009-11. Once Carson began playing for the Sun Devils, Randle decided to secure season tickets and hasn't looked back since.
“I think basketball, for me, has saved my life,” Randle said. “For me to come out to where I’m at is probably a minor miracle, because a lot of people don’t make it out of there.”
Just under 1,300 miles from his seats at Desert Financial Arena stands the small town of Homer, Louisiana, where Randle spent his childhood living in a foster home with his older brother, Robert.
Randle, 57, doesn't hold fond memories of his childhood in Homer, specifically how he was treated by his foster parents.
“My childhood was not a good childhood at all," Randle said. "I went through tons of abuse: physical, verbal, emotional. Beaten with an extension cord, switches out of trees, anything they could get their hands on.”
Both of Randle's foster parents were ministers. He explained that with how culture was in Louisiana during the 1970s and 1980s, everybody in the foster home saw the parents "as saints" and "nothing was ever going to happen to them."
"It’s the culture from back then where they said me getting a whooping was the best thing that ever happened to me," Randle said.
Randle said he and Robert grew up poor. He specifically noted their struggles to find food, explaining that they had "to eat off the floor, ate what we could.” He said he didn't see himself overcoming his circumstances in his early life.
“I never saw getting past 25 years old," Randle said. "I thought the way my life was gonna go, that I was gonna end up drunk, doing drugs or dead.”
In lieu of having his biological parents in his life, Robert, who is now deceased, served as Randle's role model, keeping him motivated when times were tough.
“They always kept (us) together, because we were very close,” Randle said. “He practically raised me. I remember him telling me that if I didn’t do anything else, to get out of the town and make something of myself.”
At eight years old, Randle realized basketball was his passion. Randle said he and Robert used the sport as an outlet to distract themselves from the poverty and violence that consumed their childhood.
"Anytime someone saw me, they saw me with a ball underneath my arms, walking down the street, always ready to play basketball somewhere," Randle said.
Local hoops connection
After a six-year stint in the military and time living in Washington, Randle relocated to Arizona in 2000. Since then, Randle has made local basketball a part of his weekly routine, attending all ASU men's basketball home games and most Mesa High School basketball games.
As a supporter of the Mesa High School men's basketball program, Randle has used his life experience to guide and mentor members of the team. Randle has done everything from paying for the entire team's shoes to taking players to sit with him at ASU home games.
“He had the best interest of the young men to be a positive role model," said Shane Burcar, current NAU men's basketball head coach and Mesa High School men's basketball head coach from 2006-18. “He wanted nothing more. I think it was all in true kindness.”
Darren Hobbs, Randle's longtime friend and Mesa High School men's basketball assistant coach, said Randle's passion for ASU and Mesa basketball stems from wanting to positively influence the lives of young men.
"It gives him that sense of family, something to connect to and something to support," Hobbs said. "Michael is just a genuine dude. He's just one of those people who are real."
Doug Haller, ASU beat writer for The Athletic, said talking hoops with Randle has become a part of Haller's gameday routine, making chatting about the game with Randle "the first thing I do."
"It's been a good relationship for me to have someone to bounce ideas off of, somebody who knows the game of basketball as well as he does," Haller said.
Haller realized the magnitude of Randle's ASU fandom when he saw Randle sitting in the stands during a road game, something he does often.
“To go to a road game at Stanford, that’s commitment right there, that’s legit,“ Haller said. "I hear from fans that are very passionate all the time. But as far as ASU basketball goes, I think I’d have to put him right at the top.”
When speaking with Randle, it's clear his passion for the game of basketball is palpable.
“Basketball was something that helped pull him out of (struggles) and was something that he latched on to," Randle's ex-wife, Jennifer said.
Now working at The Arizona Department of Economic Security helping families in need secure food stamps and medical assistance, Randle believes his life has come full circle since his time in Homer.
"I feel like with what I have gone through, instead of being bitter, I have been put in the position to give back," Randle said. “Without that experience, I wouldn’t be Michael Randle now.”
And that tattoo keeps motivating him to be the Michael Randle of now and not the one that his childhood in Homer may have dictated.
Reach the reporter at ltochter@asu.edu and follow @Leo_Toch on Twitter.
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