Michael Longaker won a national title at Michigan State, then dove into the world of medicine – MLive.com

Note: This is part of a series of stories about former Michigan State players who have gone on to interesting or unique post-basketball careers. Previously: Adam Ballinger, artist; Delvon Roe, actor; Anthony Ianni, public speaker

Four decades later, the memory of his first practice against Earvin Magic Johnson is a vivid one for Michael Longaker.

As a sophomore guard for Michigan State in 1977-78, Longaker was among those tasked with defending the Spartans star newcomer. He spent that day exhausting himself while chasing the bigger and more athletic Johnson around Jenison Fieldhouse.

But the challenges didnt stop even when practice did. After leaving the court, Longaker balled up the tape on his ankles and threw it in a wastebasket. Johnson promptly grabbed the ball of tape and boasted he could sink the wastebasket shot from further away.

I was like Oh my gosh, what a nightmare, Longaker said. That was a window into how competitive Earvin was at everything.

While they competed in practice, the two teamed up to help Michigan State win the schools first national title in 1979. Johnson was the face of the team, while Longaker was a role player helping keep Johnson and others sharp in practice every day.

After Michigan State, the two teammates went to California and found plenty of professional success.

Johnson, of course, won five NBA titles and three MVP awards in his Hall of Fame career for the Lakers.

Longaker, meanwhile, settled in Northern California and became a leader in a different field: medicine.

I do something very different from my teammates, I imagine, Longaker said this week from his office.

Longaker has spent the last two decades at Stanford University, where hes a professor at the School of Medicine and the co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. His work focuses on scarring and how to regenerate skin and improve wound healing.

Its a field of study far different than the matchup zone he worked to master under Jud Heathcote. But playing and studying at Michigan State, he said, set him up for a successful career in medicine.

I cant overstate the role that Michigan State has played in my career, Longaker said.

Longaker spent four years at Michigan State working hard in practices like that first one and fighting for playing time on some immensely talented Spartans teams.

His contributions were often not seen on box scores. Later in his career, Heathcote started asking Longer for his thoughts before and during games. He saw Longaker as a potential future coach.

Longaker, though, had other career plans. He initially planned on going into dentistry, but a summer spent doing research with James Potchen, then the chair of Michigan States Department of Radiology, sold him on a career in medicine.

Heathcote ended up writing a letter of recommendation that helped Longaker get into Harvard Medical School. But even then, he still held out hope to see his former player on the sideline one day.

I said Coach, Im kind of committed to being a physician, Longaker said.

Longaker finished medical school with the intent of becoming a pediatric heart surgeon. But during a year of research during his residency at the University of California, San Francisco, he was assigned to work under a doctor who operated on children before they were born and asked to investigate how embryos heal wounds.

His findings, that embryos heal without scars in their first two trimesters, set his career on a different course. One year of research turned into four, then was followed by more training in New York and Los Angeles before he landed at Stanford in 2000.

Now, most of his work is in directing a lab that focuses on skin and the skeleton, developing techniques to use stem cells to improve wound healing and prevent scarring. His work has earned him numerous awards and hes been an inventor on over 40 patents and patent applications.

Its been great, Longaker said. I couldnt have predicted it.

That world is far removed from that of Michigan State basketball, but Longaker finds ways to bridge his past and his present. He has two sons who follow the program closely he was elated this week in the afterglow of commitments from Emoni Bates and Max Christie and typically attends multiple games per year. Tom Izzo didnt join Heathcotes staff until after Longaker left, but the two have developed a friendship over the years.

Longaker has also become involved with the sports program at his employer (he attended the 2013 Rose Bowl wearing a split T-shirt featuring both Stanford and Michigan State) Former Stanford running back Bryce Love, the 2017 Heisman Trophy runner-up, worked in Longakers lab while completing his degree in human biology, and Oscar da Silva, an All-Pac 12 forward for the Cardinal, counts Longaker as his academic mentor.

One of Longakers recent trips back to East Lansing was last year, for the 40th anniversary of the 1979 national title. And when that team meets again in another decade, Longaker hopes his smarts can help reverse the outcome of that first practice way back when.

I always joked with my teammates, at our 50-year reunion, Im going to dominate, Longaker said.

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Michael Longaker won a national title at Michigan State, then dove into the world of medicine - MLive.com