Mike Flynt is an American former

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player who played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

Sul Ross State University Sul Ross State University (SRSU) is a public university in Alpine, Texas, United States. The main campus is the primary institution of higher education serving the nineteen-county Big Bend, Texas, Big Bend region of far West Texas. Branch campuse ...

Alpine, Texas Alpine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,035 at the 2020 census. The town has an elevation of , and the surrounding mountain peaks are over above sea level. A university, hospi ...

and wore the number 49. Flynt was a strength coach by trade and was a strength coach at

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. He is the inventor of the Powerbase Fitness exercise equipment. Clients for the Powerbase system include school systems and the military.

Early career

In 1965, he was on the first state championship team at

Permian High School Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is one of two high schools in the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book '' Friday Night Lights'', which in turn inspired a movie and TV ...

Odessa, Texas Odessa () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, Ector County with portions extending into Midland County, Texas, Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

, the high school featured in '' Friday Night Lights''. Flynt, as an All-District player for Permian High School, was offered several full football scholarships at places like the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

and Sul Ross State University. However, he initially attended Ranger Junior College for one semester instead. He later attended

Sul Ross State Sul Ross State University (SRSU) is a public university in Alpine, Texas, United States. The main campus is the primary institution of higher education serving the nineteen-county Big Bend region of far West Texas. Branch campuses, branded as Ri ...

in 1969, which was a member of the NAIA. The athletic highlight of Flynt's two years at Sul Ross was participating in a victory against Texas A&I, which went on to win the 1969 NAIA Football National Championship, with its only loss being to Sul Ross. Flynt had been a team captain, All-Conference Linebacker and the leading tackler on the Sul Ross team as a junior. At the start of his senior year in 1971, Flynt was involved in a fist fight with a freshman teammate, the last of several fights he got into on campus. School officials decided to expel Flynt. He only needed six hours to graduate, and he earned his degree from Sul Ross State by taking his remaining classes elsewhere. At a reunion of former Sul Ross students from the 1960s and '70s, Flynt told a former roommate that losing his senior year at Sul Ross was the greatest regret in his life. The roommate suggested he make a comeback. Flynt accepted the challenge and ended up walking on at Sul Ross as a linebacker, making the team and becoming the oldest college linebacker in NCAA history.

Division III football

Flynt sold his house in

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...

and moved temporarily to Alpine, Texas. When Flynt went back to play, his youngest child was a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. Two of his children were older than any of his teammates. Flynt was eight years older than his own coach, Steve Wright.Sports Illustrated, September 24, 2007, p. 34 One of his original college coaches, Jerry Larned, counselled him at the start of his comeback. Despite the fact that he was over 35 years older than his teammates, Flynt, a career strength and conditioning coach, told ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' that he could still do some things in the weight room that the other players could not. Flynt said he could still do 25 consecutive pull-ups and won a

bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...

competition with a 45 lb plate at the beginning of the 2007 season. He missed the first two games of the 2007 season with a

pinched nerve Radiculopathy (; ), also commonly referred to as pinched nerve, refers to a set of conditions in which one or more nerves are affected and do not work properly (a neuropathy). Radiculopathy can result in pain ( radicular pain), weakness, altered s ...

, which turned out to be two bulging discs in his neck. When he made his debut on October 13, 2007, Flynt was believed to be the second-oldest college football player ever. Older players such as Tom Thompson have also since surpassed Flynt in age.

Film and Video

The Senior ''The Senior'' is the fourth studio album by American singer Ginuwine. It was released by Epic Records on April 8, 2003 in the United States. The singer reteamed with Troy Oliver to work on material for the album. He also consulted a number o ...

'', a 2023 film directed by

Rod Lurie Rod Lurie (; born May 15, 1962) is an American director, screenwriter, producer and former film critic. Early life and career The son of internationally syndicated cartoonist Ranan Lurie, he was born in Israel but moved to the United States at a ...

and starring

Michael Chiklis Michael Charles Chiklis (; born August 30, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), for which he won the Primet ...

as Mike Flynt, premiered at the

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it t ...

on November 9, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynt, Mike Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American football linebackers American strength and conditioning coaches Sul Ross Lobos football players Players of American football from Odessa, Texas Permian High School alumni American motivational speakers