Mike Miano is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player who played the position of defensive tackle. He is currently a Physical Education and Health teacher for Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA.)

High school career

Miano attended Affton High School in St.Louis, Missouri, where he starred in football and wrestling

Wrestling

Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

 from 1988 to 1992. In football, he won All-Conference, All-District, All-Metro and All-State honors as a defensive and offensive lineman. In wrestling he made it to the State Championship Tournament in the heavyweight division. Miano's dominance on the gridiron generated much interest from NCAA Division I universities. In spite of his athletic and academic potential, Miano was ineligible to receive scholarship offers from any of the interested universities due to NCAA regulations.

Collegiate career

Believing his playing career was over, Miano enrolled at the St. Louis Community College

St. Louis Community College

St. Louis Community College is the Missouri two-year college supported by the Junior College District of St. Louis City – St. Louis County. The three original campuses were built simultaneously in 1964: Florissant Valley , Forest Park , and Meramec . A fourth campus, Wildwood opened in August 2007...

. Athletically, he was inactive from 1992 until 1994. His junior college football career began at Highland Community College

Highland Community College (Kansas)

-External links:...

 in Highland, Kansas

Highland, Kansas

Highland is a city in Doniphan County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,012. It is part of the St. Joseph, MO–KS Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Highland is located at...

. Miano earned All-Conference and All-American honors for his play in the 1994 season at HCC. While at Highland, Miano received dozens of scholarship offers from Big Eight Conference

Big Eight Conference

The Big Eight Conference, a former NCAA-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football, was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association by its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University...

, Big Ten Conference

Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

, Western Athletic Conference

Western Athletic Conference

The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...

 and Big East Conference

Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

 schools.

Miano accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

 and enrolled there in the spring of 1995. After completing spring football practices at Kansas, Miano transferred to Missouri State University

Missouri State University

Missouri State University is a public university located in Springfield, Missouri, United States and founded in 1905. It is the state's second largest university, with an official enrollment of 20,802 in fall 2011...

 in Springfield, Missouri

Springfield, Missouri

Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...

. His play in the 1995 season at Missouri State earned him the Gateway Football Conference Defensive Newcomer of the Year award and All-Conference honors. Miano was also named the Bears Defensive Lineman of the Year. Miano entered the 1996 season as one of the Bears team captains. His play earned him Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 and AFCA

American Football Coaches Association

The American Football Coaches Association is an association of over 11,000 football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "maintain the highest possible standards in football and the profession of...

 1st Team All-American honors. He was named the Gateway Football Conference's Defensive Player of the Year.

Professional career

Miano's performance at Missouri State attracted the attention of multiple teams in the NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. On April 20, 1997 Miano was selected as the 9th pick in the seventh, 210th overall, by the Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

.