Remembering Don Chiodo: A trustworthy friend, unselfish mentor and true Chippewa

He couldn't believe what happened.

It came out of nowhere.

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"I'd just lost one of the most important people in my life," Jaksa said.

Four minutes into Wednesday media availability with Central Michigan football coach Jim McElwain, Jaksa felt his iPhone vibrate in his pocket. 

He glanced down for seven seconds.

Tilting his head and furrowing his eyebrows, Jaksa looked to his co-worker, Matt Kearney, and mouthed the name of his caller in confusion.

Alford?

Jaksa, questioning why athletic director Michael Alford would be calling him, tilted his head once again before returning to the conversation with McElwain.

"Michael doesn’t ever call me," Jaksa said. "I freaked out and thought maybe I did something wrong. I didn’t understand."

Following the 10-minute discussion with McElwain leading up to the Mid-American Conference championship game, Jaksa left the media scrum to do individual interviews for the radio broadcast.

Walking back to McElwain's office at the trailer being used while the Chippewa Champions Center is in the construction process, deputy athletic director Craig Wiley pulled the head coach aside for a serious conversation.

During Jaksa's next interview with McElwain, a one-on-one for the radio show, his broadcast partner Brock Gutierrez called him.

Jaksa still didn't know what was happening, but he got the sense that something was wrong. He returned Gutierrez's call immediately after the interview.

"What do you know?" Gutierrez asked intently.

"I've got a missed call from Michael and a voicemail telling me to call him back," Jaksa said in response.

"Call Michael, then get right back to me," Gutierrez said.

The moment Alford uttered the unexpected words that Don Chiodo died in a car crash just hours earlier, Jaksa felt as if his heart broke into pieces.

“I viewed Don as a dad," Jaksa, whose father is going through health issues, said. "He’s the closest thing to that when I’m away from home. He was the person I went to for advice. I'm going to miss him."

Sheriff's deputies responded to the fatal crash at 2:42 p.m. Dec. 4 on M-46 just west of Pingree Road in Seville Township of Gratiot County. Chiodo was traveling east when his vehicle crossed the center line, colliding head-on with a westbound tractor-trailer.

He was later pronounced dead at MidMichigan Medical Center in Gratiot.

Chiodo, 54, is survived by his wife, Kimberley, and two daughters, Samantha, 26, and Bailey, 22. He was married to Kimberly for 29 years.

He was known as the "Voice of the Chippewas," serving as a member of the broadcast crew since 2009 and as a play-by-play announcer for football and men's basketball since 2010.

'Don has done everything and then some for me'

Jaksa transferred to Central Michigan in 2011 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional broadcaster after a one-year stint as a Division III soccer player at Trine University.

Entering the broadcasting department as a student, he was in search of anyone that would point him in the right direction.

The person Jaksa was most interested in speaking with?

Don Chiodo.

"When you see the voice of the school, you want to talk to him," Jaksa said. "Don was willing to help out and critique anybody's stuff."

Even though Jaksa was in touch with Chiodo every once in a while as an underclassman, he didn't start a rich relationship with him until the summer before his senior year in 2013.

There was an open position for a sideline reporter to help Chiodo and his color analyst, Brock Gutierrez, deliver football broadcasts to Chippewa faithful on the radio.

The job was between Jaksa and fellow senior Jim Costa.

"That bastard picked Jim," Jaksa said, laughing. "They made a great choice."

Costa, a close friend of Jaksa's to this day, felt privileged to be under the tutelage of Chiodo. He developed as a broadcaster, learned new angles of the job and eventually ended up working at ESPN 96.1 FM in Grand Rapids.

"He took a chance on me and believed in me," Costa said. "He was one of the first people to really believe this was something I could do."

What happened in the moment of Jaksa's rejection started a beautiful relationship.

Chiodo was the one that made the phone call.

"Your stuff is good, and you’ve done a tremendous job, but we are going to go in a different direction," Chiodo said, as Jaksa recalled. "Keep working at it. You’re talented, and your work ethic is great."

Little did Chiodo or Jaksa know, the college broadcaster would eventually return as a professional to work hand-in-hand with the mentor he attached himself to years earlier.

A few months after Jaksa's graduation in May 2014, he returned to the athletic department as a video and on-air talent. By the 2016 football season, he was the sideline reporter.

Leaning on Chiodo for support and advice, Jaksa hit his stride as a broadcaster. Then, the longtime voice of Central Michigan athletics began giving up his own opportunities so Jaksa could build his resume.

Jaksa served as the football play-by-play broadcaster in Chiodo's place against Northern Illinois in 2017. He did the same for games against Akron and Toledo in 2018. Once again, Chiodo gave up his seat for games against Miami (Florida) and Ball State in 2019.

It was all Chiodo's idea.

Jaksa never asked.

"I couldn't imagine another individual giving up the hard-earned job they had to let some 28-year-old punk step in and call the game," Jaksa said. "Don has done everything and then some for me. I will forever be in debt to him for that."

Chiodo was a giver, as Jaksa described. He was never in the broadcasting business for himself, a rarity for anyone with a job of that caliber.

There was no ego for Chiodo. He was authentic in the way that he endorsed others first and worried about his career later.

"The dude, every freaking day, was always promoting me being on the air," Jaksa said. "You just don't see individuals like that. You don't teach that. It was just Don Chiodo."

More than just a promoter of his work, Chiodo was a friend, mentor and, ultimately, a dad to Jaksa. He noted his confidant as a Chippewa legend, passionate individual, someone that would light up a room, witty and a man that knew what it truly meant to love.

Reflecting on Chiodo's death, Jaksa said he's still numb.

"You don’t realize how impactful that human has been on your life until you get to the next step or something like this happens," Jaksa said. "I'm going to miss that guy with everything in me."

Just like those five games spanning the last three football seasons, Jaksa will fill Chiodo's play-by-play role for Central Michigan's MAC championship game Saturday at Ford Field.

As Chiodo's closest friend, Gutierrez will be with Jaksa on the call.

"We had this guy for the last decade, and he hasn’t been able to call a Central Michigan MAC championship game," Jaksa said. "He was three days away from doing that with Brock, his best buddy.

"It breaks my heart. That's his game. He deserves that game."

'Donnie accepted me'

Gutierrez thought he was the most ambitious Central Michigan fan.

At least until he met Chiodo in 2009 at the MAC championship game. 

For that season, Chiodo was working as the pregame and halftime host. Meanwhile, the game for the title between the Chippewas and Ohio was the first broadcast Gutierrez ever participated in.

Chiodo was pegged as the play-by-play broadcaster for the 2010 season and Gutierrez, a CMU alum and former NFL player, was preparing to take over as the color analyst.

The connection between the two was immediate, and a friendship that went beyond the airwaves began to form.

“I’m not a broadcaster," Gutierrez said. "I’m just a dude who loves CMU football and loves to talk about it, but Donnie, he made what I do fun."

Chiodo and Gutierrez worked together from the 2010 season until the day his dear friend died.

When Gutierrez heard the news from Alford, he was angry.

Back in July 2018, his parents, John and Nancy Gutierrez, died together in a car accident. Of course, Chiodo was there for him – every step of the way.

Chiodo's death hit close to home.

"This would’ve been difficult without all of that, but it just brings back so many … it’s been very difficult," Gutierrez said. "It's a really hard hit to the stomach. Just a terrible tragedy."

Gutierrez said one of the greatest attributes Chiodo possessed was the choice he made to listen to others. He felt comfortable to talk to his play-by-play man about anything, from positive moments to the struggles of life. Through the deep conversations, Chiodo never judged; he just listened.

Chiodo also kept Gutierrez on his toes, offering up unforeseen jokes as much as possible. He did it to put a smile on the faces of his friends.

"One of the best senses of humor I’ve ever been around – subtle but funny as hell," Gutierrez said. "He was one of the best humans I’ve ever known."

To fully understand the love Gutierrez has for Chiodo, look no further than the broadcast booth.

And the first thing to know is that Gutierrez is not a broadcaster by trade. The nine-year NFL offensive lineman went as far as to call himself a big, dumb and loud football player.

Chiodo embraced every last bit of Gutierrez and what he brought to the broadcast as a color commentator.

"He let me talk and be as obnoxious as I wanted to be," Gutierrez said. "What other broadcaster would let you clap over his call? I just couldn’t contain myself. That’s who I am, and Donnie accepted me.

"He was a true professional broadcaster. I am not."

After every single broadcast, like clockwork, Chiodo looked at Gutierrez and spoke the same four words.

"Great job today, Brock."

Chiodo meant it every time, showing the appreciation he had for his teammate.

"I know half the time he was full of crap because not everybody is always good," Gutierrez said. "He just made me feel like I was the best thing out there all the time."

Gutierrez used to joke with Chiodo about eventually ending their careers as broadcasters. What he said for years has caused him to wrestle with life since his friend's death.

"If you're done broadcasting, if you're going to retire, we're a package deal, bro," Gutierrez recalled telling Chiodo. "If you're done, I'm done. I can't do it without you."

He meant those words; they came from his heart.

Despite being a package deal in the press box, Gutierrez feels obligated to do his job – for Chiodo.

When Jaksa has gotten the chance to sub for Chiodo as the play-by-play broadcaster on a few occasions, Gutierrez said he often called Jaksa by Chiodo's first name more than half a dozen times.

"I know I'm going to slip up and say it this Saturday, and it's going to suck really bad," Gutierrez said. "It's going to be really hard to do that without him."

Broadcasting a MAC championship game together was something Chiodo and Gutierrez dreamed of since they joined forces in the 2010 season.

In the week leading up to the game, Chiodo was "incredibly excited" in his own way. He didn't act ecstatic, but Gutierrez – knowing the personality of his best friend – could tell he was stoked to accomplish one of his life goals.

"He was so looking forward to calling a MAC championship game and winning a MAC championship with him doing the play-by-play," Gutierrez said. "A real bittersweet game this week for all of us.”

'We know Donnie will be listening'

As the Central Michigan football team was putting its stamp on a 49-7 victory over Toledo on Nov. 29 to secure the MAC West Division title, the broadcast crew of Chiodo, Gutierrez and Jaksa shared a moment of silence during a commercial break.

Then, Gutierrez blurted out, "We're going to a MAC championship boys, and I wouldn't want to do it with any other two individuals than this team we've got right here."

"That hits you deep with one of those guys being gone," Jaksa said, reflecting on the excitement Gutierrez displayed in his voice.

Without Chiodo, Jaksa has assumed the play-by-play role for Central Michigan's championship game against Miami (Ohio). The pregame will begin at 11 a.m. with a tribute to Chiodo. The football team will wear helmet decals to honor Chiodo, the only member of the media that picked the Chippewas to win the MAC title in 2019.

Over time, Chiodo trusted Jaksa with doing play-by-play. Due to that preparation, Jaksa said he's ready to assume the role and give it his best.

"I'd hope that he trusts me to call one more game, even though it's the biggest game," Jaksa said. "There’s no approach to handle all the emotions. I’ve never been through it. Brock hasn’t been through it with a broadcast partner."

Gutierrez isn't sure how he's going to make it through the broadcast, but he also knows Chiodo would want him to do his best for the listeners that love the Chippewas.

More than anything, Jaksa and Gutierrez are passionate about making Chiodo, their trustworthy friend and unselfish mentor, proud of the championship broadcast.

"We know Donnie will be listening," Jaksa said, "and he’ll be cheering on the maroon and gold from above.”