Central Michigan community gathers to celebrate former play-by-play broadcaster Don Chiodo
Friends, family and Chippewa fans gathered in Central Michigan University's Plachta Auditorium to celebrate the life of Don Chiodo.
As the "Voice of the Chippewas," Chiodo was the play-by-play broadcaster for Central Michigan football and men's basketball since 2010 and earned his Bachelor's degree in broadcasting from CMU in 1990. Chiodo was also a senior financial advisor at Central Michigan Investment Services LPL since 2004.
Chiodo died Dec. 4 in an auto accident on M-46 near Alma. He was 54 years old.
Many knew Chiodo for his quick wit and sense of humor and remembered the broadcaster at his memorial service Monday.
Kim Chiodo, Don's wife of 29 years, said he showed his love by performing acts of service. He would stop by the grocery store when his family needed anything, clean the house or attempt to fix things around the house.
Although Kim said she would cringe anytime her husband held a power tool, what mattered most was his decision to go out of his way to help others.
"To know him is to love him," Kim said. "I can't think of a better thing to say about him. If you came into contact with him, you were instantaneously his friend. He had a way of touching everyone he met."
Ben Evers, the officiant from Clark Family Funeral Chapel and Cremation Service, opened the ceremony with anecdotes shared by Chiodo's family. He also recognized Chiodo's impact on the Mount Pleasant community.
"There's people in this room who probably never met Don face-to-face," Evers said. "But you heard his voice so many times, he felt like he was your friend. How incredible is that? One life can have such an impact on the community, just by being the man he was, by being kind, being funny. By being exceptional."
Kim shared humorous stories of how Chiodo was not a "romantic person" and said that he loved to make fun of people – all out of the kindness of his heart. She also shared a story of how he once chased a rooster with a .22 rifle and puffed his chest as if he killed the bird.
Meanwhile, the rooster, still alive, pecked at the door.
One of Chiodo's closest friends and broadcasting partner, Adam Jaksa, said he looked to the longtime broadcaster whenever anything, positive or negative, occurred in his life.
Jaksa also said he viewed Chiodo as a father figure both in and away from the broadcasting booth.
"He was a mentor," Jaksa said. "He was the most selfless person I ever knew. I don't know of any broadcaster that would tell you they weren't the voice of the school, the voice of their alma mater. To get to call games for Central Michigan, he never brought it up."
Throughout the football season, the two recorded a weekly podcast titled "Fly the C" and would make picks for several games for that week of football.
Chiodo dominated the picks throughout the year finishing 75-48, while Jaksa was 67-56. Jaksa said Chiodo would have made fun of him on Twitter, as he normally would each week, following the season win.
Chiodo's oldest daughter, Sam Columbus, said her father was selfless and humble and always showed love to his family by doing anything he could for them.
Columbus also shared how Chiodo seemed to favor her younger sister, Bailey. She said her dad would make far too much food for Bailey whenever she wanted something to eat. When Sam asked for anything, Chiodo would jokingly respond with, "You have two legs that aren't broken," which drew a thunderous laugh.
Outside of those humorous moments, Columbus said she'll remember her father outside of his work.
"You all knew Don Chiodo as a broadcaster, maybe a finance man or a short plump bald guy everyone wanted to be around," Columbus said. "But to me, he's just my dad. To me, he's the guy that coached my softball team then quit after two weeks. He's the guy that took us sledding, to Mackinac Island and to DisneyWorld."
Another member of the broadcast crew which Chiodo was especially close to, Brock Gutierrez, opened his remarks by poking fun of Chiodo's love of biking and tennis, something the play-by-play broadcaster did frequently.
Gutierrez and Chiodo first met Dec. 4, 2009, when the Chippewas played in the Mid-American Conference championship football game. Chiodo was the pregame and halftime host for the radio broadcast, and it was Gutierrez's first game on the radio.
Gutierrez said the connection between Chiodo and him was almost instant.
"You could search the entire world and you'd never find a better human being than Don Chiodo," Gutierrez said.
While Gutierrez and Chiodo had a strong friendship, much of it was through poking fun at one another and just about everything was fair game.
Gutierrez said he wouldn't want it any other way.
"That's what I loved about my boy Donnie, he was so welcoming to everybody," Gutierrez said. "Yes, he made fun of me, but he did it in a way that you didn't know you were being made fun of. That's what I loved about him. He could take it back, he wasn't one of those guys that made fun of you and couldn't take it back when you made fun of him back."
Steve Powers worked with Chiodo on the radio and was his doubles partner on their tennis league in the summer.
On the broadcast side, Powers said he was always impressed with the way Chiodo and Gutierrez meshed together on the air and said people loved the pair's chemistry.
Powers was also the guy to help Chiodo with his love of biking, especially when Chiodo may have bitten off more than he could chew.
"I was the guy he would call when he got too far," Powers said. "I'd go pick him up because I had a truck — should've never bought the truck. But here he is, in the front seat with those bike pants on. Not good."
Cheryl Sienciski, Chiodo's oldest sister, said that she heard people call her brother a professional and a mentor.
She said her family would call him a "smart-ass."
Siecinski shared stories of Chiodo during his first visit to CMU and of spring break when he passed out on the beach. She helped take care of her brother -- after she was done laughing at him.
Chiodo's friend group, which Siecinski warmly referred to as the "idiots," got themselves into a lot of trouble in their prime.
Siecinski said the most humorous example of their trouble was Chiodo created a homecoming float on his car, which earned him a three-day suspension from school.
Their parents looked to get rid of the car and gave Chiodo $200 to have the car scrapped.
In a quick-thinking moment, Chiodo and his friends took the car and pushed it into a ditch thinking they would be able to keep the money.
What they forgot about was the vehicle identification number.
Police gave Chiodo's father a citation for illegal dumping after the quick thinking from "Dono," his nickname from his family.
"I used to tease my parents that Donnie was their favorite," Siecinski said. "The sun rose and shine on Donald. When he was younger, we used to call him Mr. Donnie, then Donald and my mom called him Dono. I personally believed 'DONO' stood for 'do no wrong.'
"He could do whatever he wanted and never get in trouble."
Following closing remarks from Evers, the service was capped off by Central Michigan's fight song.
With Chiodo's love of Central Michigan in the forefront of everyone's mind, Gutierrez and Powers ended their times on stage with the same phrase that captured Chiodo's honor.
"Fire up forever."
