Hall of Fame
When Mike Utley wrapped up his distinguished collegiate football career at WSU in the fall of 1988, he departed the most highly decorated gridiron star in Cougar history. Following his senior campaign Utley was named to six All-America first teams, the All-Pacific-10 Conference First Team and was selected to participate in the Hula Bowl, Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine games. Utley started the final games in his career and helped WSU to an Aloha Bowl victory over Houston in 1988. His success in college propelled him to the National Football League where he was a third round selection by the Detroit Lions in the spring of 1989. Three months later he was playing in the NFL and three years after entering the league his football career came to a crashing end. In early November 1991, Utley suffered a severe injury during Detroit’s game with the Los Angeles Rams, fracturing the sixth and seventh cervical vertebra. Utley was carried off the field while giving his now famous “thumbs up” signal. He later formed the Mike Utley Foundation and uses the foundation and proceeds from the sale of “Thumbs Up” merchandise to aid in the research of spinal cord injuries.
