Eric Mayes is a higher education administrator and professor, a former

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach and

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. His research focuses on culture and cognition and leadership development. Mayes played for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

football team as a walk-on and was later elected co-captain of the undefeated

1997 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1997 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1997 Big Ten Conference football season. In its third year under head coach Lloyd Carr, Michigan compiled a perfect 12–0 record, won the Big Ten Conferen ...

that won the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

. Mayes, called Zeus by his teammates, was such a motivational and inspirational leader that after suffering a season-ending injury during the teams national championship run, his teammates handed him the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship trophy, hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him off the field after defeating

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Michigan Stadium Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest stadium in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, the third largest stadium in the world, and the ...

, 20–14. During the team's visit with

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

, Mayes shared remarks and presented the President with a Michigan jersey and made him an honorary "Michigan Man." At the end of his playing career, Mayes enrolled in graduate school at the

and worked with the University of Michigan football team on student-athlete development. He also spent time working with Central Michigan University Football team in recruitment and player development while on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University. After graduating with a Master of Science from Michigan, Mayes worked as a high school technology teacher and coach in Detroit, before earning his Ph.D. from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

. He later graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with a post doctorate master's degree focused on education policy and management. After working on national policy issues in Washington, D.C., Mayes joined the faculty at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. before going into higher education administration.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayes, Eric Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American football linebackers Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football coaches Johns Hopkins University faculty Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni High school football coaches in Michigan Howard University alumni Michigan Wolverines football players Players of American football from Kalamazoo, Michigan African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American people University of Michigan School of Education alumni